Evolution of the One
by Genius-626
Summary: The cycle has changed and the future is unknown. The machines bring back our two favorite heroes to fulfill the new prophecy. FINAL Chapter up: Will Dessa survive coming back from the Source? The aftermath of the winning battle against Agent X.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Welcome to my first Post-Revolutions fic! (I re-wrote most of this, so if you've already read this part, I suggest you read it again.)**

**The Matrix was popular when I was in the third grade, so of course, I missed that era of fandom, but that won't stop me from writing what's on my mind. I just discovered the trilogy early this year and I'm in love with it, but with no real life friends to obsess with, so I turn to the internet to unite with my fellow sci-fi nerds! Anyway, this is just a story that I need to write for the sake of writing because I'm a writer at heart and that's what writers do, but I in no way think this should be the actual sequel unless the Wachowski Brothers thought it was cool, but I seriously doubt that and I'm giving up that dream right now as we speak. So, enjoy. (I also like any type of criticism, so feel free.)**

Prologue

"Neo?"

He heard a single voice; a voice solid, sound, and curious, even here. He knew that voice even now.

She didn't wait for him to turn around. She embraced him from behind and felt him relax in her touch. Where exactly they'd ended up didn't matter to them right now. Whether this was heaven or a world between worlds, they didn't care. They were together; after everything they've been through, they were still together.

He turned. He could see her, his sight regained in this peaceful haze of a world somehow. He drank in her sight, melting in her touch, her spirit very much alive. He could feel his shattered soul piecing itself together now that she was with him again.

Peace. They were at peace. And in this place, they could somehow see what was happening in Zion. The war had actually ended. Morpheus and Link were both alive, among many others whom they were close to.

"I…can't believe it." Neo said, drowning in the knowledge they somehow possessed.

"Why not?" Trinity said softly. "I've always known you'd end the war."

Before he could reply, he suddenly felt a lurch come from his heart. His hand shot up to his chest in surprise, feeling the pounding once more. "What's happening to me?"

Trinity then put a hand over his and looked into his eyes, searching. They both knew then; this peace wasn't going to last. This time, he felt the pounding in his head. It was reality bringing him back, away from Trinity. He fell to his knees, the pain unbearable. Trinity knelt down beside him.

"Don't fight it." She told him, holding him in a gentle embrace.

"I can't leave you, not again. I've fulfilled my destiny." He said this in desperation, pressing himself closer into his lover every time a pound in his heart or head took him further away from the peaceful haze.

"No, you've fulfilled the prophesy." A foreign voice rang in his ears.

They both looked up to see the Architect stand before them.

"Your destiny still awaits. For both of you."

Picking up the confusion from Neo's pained eyes as well as Trinity's persistent stare, the Architect continued. "You are both the cause of the change in our cycle, therefore, there is another prophesy yet to be fulfilled."

Looking back at Trinity, Neo waited for her response. She disregarded her own confusion to comfort him, knowing that he would endure the pain of fighting off reality only until she told him to leave. "Go." She said, taking his face into her hands. "I'll be waiting."

She kissed him. It was deeper than their last kiss, but just as sweet. Her lips were on his until he felt himself disappear into the darkness that he knew was unconsciousness. There, he would wait for his dreams to fill in the silence.

…

The window was open, a slight breeze making the thin curtains gently float up, and then back down. The sunrise was unreal, its many colors reflecting off the white walls of the small apartment.

It took a moment for Trinity to realize that she was awake and observing all of this. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling for mere moments before she felt Neo stir next to her. She rolled over, watching as his eyes refused to open. She felt him find her hand from underneath the covers and she didn't resist when he found the rest of her body and pulled her close, his eyes still closed.

"Five more minutes." He mumbled in her neck.

"Get up. We both slept in long enough." She said, only now pushing herself free and standing up. She made her way to the window and looked down, seeing the changes that she assumed only years could bring. "But…I wonder just how long we've been sleeping."

Neo finally opened his eyes and looked up, immediately reading the codes around him.

"Wait…we're in the Matrix." He said.

"Way to point out the obvious." Trinity replied dryly. Neo gave her a look and she shrugged. "I couldn't help it."

"I know." Neo said, secretly thankful that Trinity hadn't changed at all, although he didn't know how long it'd been. He sat up. "So, are we alive?"

"Probably. How long do you think it's been?"

"Well, there's always one way to find out." Neo got up to make his way to the door when Trinity stopped him.

"As much as I love seeing you without a shirt on, I'm not sure you should go out like that."

Neo looked down and realized that he was wearing only sweat pants. He thought a moment, then looked around the room. They didn't seem to have a bedroom, just a bed on the side of a rather big room, like their apartment in Zion. He knew Trinity noticed this as well when she too looked around. She walked over to the closet and opened it, finding two full wardrobes.

"Wow." She said, trying to find something that she would actually wear. Neo approached, looking at his side of the closet. "Why can't we just use our RSI's? I like my coat and sunglasses better than a T-shirt and jeans."

"Me too, but we don't know how the Matrix has changed. We have to blend in for now." Trinity replied half heartedly, just as resistant as Neo to "blend in."

But she was right, they didn't know how the Matrix had changed. They were surprised if anything to see how drastically society had evolved.

As they walked the streets, they noticed news stations—Zion news stations. Neo took a newspaper while Trinity watched a televised message, updating the masses about Zion's political stand point. There were also frequent interviews with the newly freed as well as the most recent statistics of the percentage of people living in the real world vs. the Matrix. Apparently, there were three new cities built around Zion; Electroid, Zorin, and Neon.

Neo read mostly names of people who had been freed and their reasoning. There were columns from editors about the virtues of choosing the Matrix over reality. It was quite the controversy among the open minded. As they walked on, he picked up a magazine titled "REDs and BLUEs." It was filled with personality tests that could apparently tell whether you would be better off as a red pill or a blue pill. Interesting.

There were stations dispersed throughout the city like a carnival. The most disturbing was the selling of a book called Prophesy. They didn't need to look through it to know that it was about them; the clerk selling them made it loud and clear, practically preaching to the public about their sacrifices.

"_Great_," Neo whispered to Trinity. "We're worshipped _here_ to."

"_Shhh_." Trinity hissed, thankful that they had both found sunglasses at least. She was about to say something about getting back to finding the Oracle when they approached a building labeled "The Rabbit Hole." They stared into the building, watching people walk in, talk to the secretary, and eventually disappear into an elevator.

…

It was quite hard to find the Oracle by themselves, she was very well protected. It was only when Seraph found them that they were even close.

Although there was no real threat after peace was made, Seraph was still guarding the Oracle just as he had before. And although Sati no longer stayed with The Oracle, she had been waiting for this day for years and wouldn't miss it for the world.

"Neo?" Sati said as she answered the door. She was half surprised, half expecting. The Oracle had told her that they would come today, but it still surprised her to see them stand before her, unchanged by time.

At first, Neo didn't recognize her, but he double backed once he realized. She was only seven when he met her, now she looked more like 15.

He took off his sunglasses, taking in the sight of her. "Sati?" he still couldn't believe it, even as she nodded.

"That's me." She said, smiling at the familiarity of his confusion, having met him in the very state,

He hesitated, not knowing if this new Matrix allowed her to be with her family. "...How's your family? Or are you still..."

"We're together again, they're fine. Thanks to you both." She was beaming now, delighted that Neo was kind enough to remember.

Neo seemed relieved as he glanced to Trinity, who was completely lost since she never met Sati.

"Come in." Sati steeped back and they both entered the apartment.

…

"It's been seven years since you've been gone." The Oracle said after she greeted them. Getting the couple to sit down was equally as challenging now as it was before the war ended. And even though they weren't in a hurry, they were still there for answers, and she knew that like no one else.

"Let's start where you left off." She said, sitting down after sitting down across the table from them. She sighed, seeing them before her just as she had foreseen. It pained her to tell them that their struggle wasn't yet over, but pleased to introduce them to their new life, which she knows that they will have a liking to.

"After the war ended, the machines decided that if there was truly meant to be peace, the people would have to be able to choose whether to live in the Matrix or the real world—at a _conscious_ level."

"That explains a lot." Neo said.

"Yes. A lot has changed. A whole lot of people decided to live in the real world, but there are still some who are unmotivated…or just plain deny the whole thing. And although the machines still need humans, they've compromised with the resistance. There's a new city called Electroid. It's the only place in the world with a spot of sunshine. The only place where machines and humans live together."

"How is it not covered by the clouds?" Trinity asked.

"They're still trying to find that out." The Oracle answered. "There are a lot of mysteries we're trying to solve right now."

"Like what?" Neo asked, hiding his eagerness to get back to their jobs.

"Not now. You'll know soon enough."

Neo tried to keep his disappointment hidden, trusting the Oracle with his life. Somehow, he found himself metaphorically taking a step backwards, his restlessness coming back to him. Then another thought hit him.

"Wait, do you know why and…exactly how we're here?"

The Oracle nodded, knowing he would ask that question. "The machines have preserved you're bodies because of the new prophesy."

"The _new_ _prophesy_?" Trinity repeated.

"And that prophesy is…" Neo coaxed.

"From the saviors of Zion will come the one to find the answer to the restoration of Earth." The Oracle said without hesitation.

"'The restoration of Earth…'" Trinity thought out loud. "That could mean a few things."

"What does 'from the saviors' mean?" Neo asked yet another question.

The Oracle smiled; she wasn't going to answer that one right away.

Trinity started thinking. "It's either one of us…" she looked to the Oracle for confirmation.

She shook her head.

"…we find someone…" Trinity guessed again.

Still no.

Trinity thought she had it now. "Or we have a kid."

The Oracle finally nodded.

Beyond confused, Neo really couldn't think of anything smart to say for a few seconds. It was enough waking up in the Matrix, but now there was another prophesy—and their unborn child had to fulfill it!

…

Morpheus walked alone in the back allies, wishing not to be seen. He as well as many of the "Revolutionaries" kept a low profile in the Matrix because of their newfound status as war heroes, Zion's revolution already in text books. And now, Neo and Trinity had to be hugely cautious with their own identities even more so than Morpheus. If people knew they were alive, even in the Matrix, they would never be left alone; they would be supernatural celebrities, more famous than Neo had even been before. was already well known;

The Matrix was currently split between two kinds of people: the "in denial" and the "accepting." The split was surprisingly close to equal, although, even if one believed and accepted, it didn't guarantee that they wanted to give up what seemed to be the easy life compared to the real world. But just as before the revolution, there were still people who wanted nothing else but to get out of the Matrix.

The idea of the Matrix is really a cult subject among science fiction fans. Comic books and graphic novels were made to honor the revolution, and although most fans were amazed by Zion, they refused to leave the Matrix. Only the eccentric actually left to leave in what seemed their dream world. Many of them would build groups and leave the Matrix together, becoming somewhat of a family when reaching the other side, if they got past the psychological exam, that is.

Morpheus had first gotten word of the new prophecy when venturing to the machine city a year after the revolution. That trip was his third that year, and their main goal was to work on the plans for building the new city, Electroid. The machines had proposed that they build a city where machines and humans live together for two purposes. The first was to keep the peace between them as long as possible. The second, to receive help recovering lost data.

Although Morpheus was a key member of the committee that had been assembled, Morpheus went to pay his respects to their saviors, whose bodies remained in the machine city, resting in a metallic shrine. He was told there that another prophesy was made and that Neo and Trinity's minds would be revived and back into the Matrix in approximately six years. The bodies would take longer to awaken properly.

Morpheus wasn't sworn to secrecy, so he told the council and they decided to hold the information from the public for the time being. In about a week, the word was out. Conspirators predicted a second revolution; it was the only logical reason why their saviors would have to be revived, so that they could save them again. But save them from what exactly? No one had a clear idea of what the prophecy was for, but Morpheus wasn't going to rest until he found out.

Now with the small threat of "Viruses" appearing in the Matrix, people feared them to be the next enemy. They disguised themselves as Zion soldiers to blend in, so they were sometimes hard to find. This caused the real Zion soldiers to need to identify themselves with tracking device so that they could recognize one another immediately without question. They patrolled alongside programs and agents to exterminate as many Viruses as possible while they were weak and in small numbers. No one knew where they were coming from and they were impossible to track. Their creators were unknown, but the conclusion was drawn that there had to be one creator in and out of the Matrix at the same time. Morpheus lead the council permitted team of researchers to find out more about this odd threat. There were little results after five years.

Morpheus reached the address he was given and found Seraph guarding the door.

"Even in a time of peace?" Morpheus said after a moment of silence between them.

"Yes, I serve my purpose even in times of peace." He said flatly, although not bluntly.

Morpheus was not hesitant to enter, but a million thoughts were running through his mind at once. He knew that seeing Neo and Trinity, even in the Matrix, would shock him. And even though he'd known about their revival for years, he knew he would be emotional. They were more than just teammates or saviors to him, they were family. Those short months they'd worked, lived, and fought for their lives together made them more than just a crew. And Trinity, he'd known her much longer than he'd known Neo. She had been his most loyal private, and later, lieutenant. He had expected that she would grow on him even before she was freed, but not as much as she had. Even in those first years, when he was the only adult she cared to please with her great academic achievements, there was a bond. She went to him in times of trouble; in times of self loathing occasionally. He seemed to be the only one who could truly reassure her as a youngling.

But now, after she'd been dead to society for nearly eight years, she had returned. Her life through his eyes seemed to flash before his eyes, memories replacing clear thoughts. He'd seen her wake up and out of the Matrix, he'd seen her adapt to real life, he'd seen her fight and grow, he'd seen her fall in love…but he'd never seen her die. They were both very much alive in Morpheus' heart, and now they were revived, back into the fragile fray of life.

The room was quaint and small; something simple. Morpheus had two seconds to scan the white room before he was received with a tight hug, two slender arms around his neck, Trinity holding onto him. She was calm and still a bit sullen, just like he'd remembered, but full of appreciation for life. When she took a step back to look at him, he took off his sunglasses and gave a faint smile, still in disbelief. He was overjoyed, but wasn't at all used to showing his emotions in the Matrix. It was hard for him for some reason. In the past, he'd always separated the Matrix from real life; his soldier stance from his true self.

Trinity looked behind her shoulder to catch Neo's eye, who was making his way across the room from the window he was looking out of.

Morpheus met Neo's eyes as well. No one said anything for a moment, but it wasn't awkward silence, it was the silence of satisfaction. They were all finally together again, something none of them had expected for a very long time.

Morpheus finally noticed Trinity's condition, her pregnancy only a few months in. His smile widened, knowing they would now have a lot more to talk about, Morpheus having offspring of his own. They would want to know about everyone, and he was more than happy to comply.

And for that moment, peace was at its peak.


	2. Dessa

Chapter 1: Dessa

Peace. The black and heavy peace that was silence and bliss. She couldn't feel pain in this state, so she was grateful. To be awake was to be tortured—coded—the worst torture known to modern man.

What did they want? Power, she knew that much. But what could they possibly gain from her pain? From her suffering? She might have known once, but not today.

"Why?" They ask her before she blacks out every night. "Why hold on? Why persist?"

'Why' indeed. Why? The answer grew dimmer each day as the incessant torture withered away at her memories, draining away at her energy as well as her will to survive. But the answer did come eventually, it always came. Somehow, she could never forget them. She would rather die before she forgot them.

Mother…Father…I will find you…

_Staring up into the serene starlight, she abandons her instincts and takes in the beauty of the simulated sky. A program worked to build that sky, so she would take it in; like a painting; an art. She snuggled closer to her father, who she suspected was dozing off. But to her surprise, he rolled over to kiss the side of her face. She tried to escape his grip, but her attempt was futile. Her nine year old strength was no match for his. _

_She felt safe in her mother's arms. They'd been separated for mere minutes, but both knew the real danger they had managed to escape. Virus' were everywhere now, and she'd never seen either of her parents fight as seriously as they just had. She felt her mother run a hand across her face to dry the tears. How could she be so powerful one minute and gentle the next. She knew then that she was lucky to have her parents and would never underestimate their love for her ever again. _

Taken, were these memories, only to leave shadows and empty holes in her heart. What was it she strived to conquer? What again was it that she needed so desperately the regain? Yes…of yes, that's right. The answer came every morning as she regained consciousness. They were looking for her; they who loved her most.

…

"You're parents miss you very much." The old woman said, trying to reassure her. It didn't work.

"How can you know that? How can you know anything beyond the present?"

The youngster was verbally attacking the elder, but she didn't mind. The young girl had been through enough, and it broke her heart to know that this chosen one would quickly lose hope.

"I know it's hard to believe. You're parents had the very same questions."

Young Melanie just sat, staring into space, worried beyond worry about her savior. Seraph had finally found her and rescued her from the Viruses, but he was hurt—badly. He lay next to them, meditating the pain away.

"He has no regret." The Oracle repeated from earlier in the conversation.

She still sat, silent. Frustrated. Her mind was fuzzy and she had little control of her surroundings. Her memory was gone and she felt like crying, but she kept it in. She would stay with the Oracle long enough to regain her composure. Then, she would run away. Live on her own. Never let anyone get hurt on her account ever again.

…

Life. Was there a point anymore? There had to be, or she would've killed herself by now—not that she hasn't tried. For some reason, death just didn't fare well with her. What was this gut feeling inside that made her trudge on? Was it fate? Destiny? She didn't believe in that, did she? It was like forging on was encrypted into her DNA, like a program. Maybe that's what having the One's blood meant.

Daughter of the One. Shit, what a title. She knew she had to keep it secret, even though the Viruses already knew. She'd read "Prophesy" from cover to cover more than once now, but only believed half of it. She wondered if her parents had ever told her stories of the war years. She didn't remember, of course. She remembered close to nothing about her past; it was all a haze. The only thing she knew for sure was her parent's love for her, disregarding their absence.

Anyway, she didn't want to waste time thinking about her parents who would never come. She loved them and wanted to be with them, but there was no reason to hope for the hopeless any longer. The Matrix feed crashed and that was it. The Matrix was cut off from the real world and vice versa. So, she was stuck in a world with no limitations, where she lived only for herself. This world was merely a play thing and a void of loneliness at the same time. No new prophesy would convince her otherwise. The loss of her family would weigh her down forever.

Today, she sat in her car, parked next to a movie theatre, eating what she stole that morning. The car was fairly new—as well as stolen. She could get away with anything, so why not steal the best? It was a nice sports car, just enough living space for her. For a few minutes, she'd sensed something looming close, watching her. It was a feeling similar to what she felt when Viruses were stalking her, but this was slightly different. This feeling was much more universal, as if she was surrounded. Her eyes darted in front of her, spotting a strange looking man from two blocks away. She wasn't going to take any chances, so she got out of the car and walked off, the most seamless way she could think of to lose him.

Melanie snuck through the streets with a hood over her head for nearly a half hour, dodging glances, but not her apparent stalker. She knew he was following her, and it was safe to assume that he was a Virus. She'd escaped them before, but it was impossible to predict whether this one was as strong as some of the rest. Or stronger.

She peeked over her shoulder and saw the same man following her close behind as she approached a stop light that promptly turned red. She had no choice; she ran for it in an attempt to lose the supposed Virus, causing some cars to come to a screeching halt. She looked back again and saw him waiting for the sign to cross. He looked similar to all the Viruses; tall, wore sunglasses and a long jacket; he was mysterious, but painfully easy to point out. They all looked the same, but there was something different about this one. He hadn't attacking her right away, like the others; he actually looked kind of…human. But no, this was a Virus, and they all would fight whenever and wherever, even in public. It was well known that the Viruses were in the Matrix and were ready for anything.

Immediately after she resumed facing forward, she bumped into someone. She lifted her head and her hood fell back, showing her pale face. She looked into the sunglasses of the very same Virus she had been looking at and ended up staring at herself in her reflection.

Melanie knew he had to be a Virus now, no one could move that fast. Well, there was someone, but she feared that he was lost to her forever.

She couldn't see the man's eyes behind his sunglasses, but he was looking into hers with a mixture of guilt and relief coursing through his mind. He soaked in her image; an image he'd been so long without. Her eyes were full of distressed youth; anyone could see that she had been abandoned just by looking into those eyes. She had a sharp chin and nose like her mother's. Blue eyes, too.

The man gripped her shoulders with great strength and pulled her into the nearest alleyway. Melanie was beginning to doubt that this was a regular Virus, how did he know who she was? Viruses tracked her down by the frequencies of manipulation to the Matrix and she hadn't done anything supernatural in weeks. This Virus must be a new advanced comeback invented just for her.

They entered an underground hallway and the supposed Virus began to speak.

"I'm getting you out of the Matrix—"

"Oh yeah?" Melanie interrupted. "Or are you taking me off the radar, assuming Zion can still track me!"

"Please, we don't have time for explanation, Melanie, I'm not who you think I am—" the man was struggling now to keep Melanie in his grip.

"Oh, I know who you are, Virus!" she practically hissed. She broke away from him and stood her ground. "You'll never take me alive, not this time."

What kind of Virus is this? Trying to trick her—_talk_ to her. In all honesty, she hadn't talked to anyone in a few weeks, let alone respond to her name. _Melanie_—she hated the name, but to honor her parents, she would keep it.

The man could feel the passion in her voice; she'd probably been through this a thousand of times. Although he'd tried to monitor her, he really had no idea what life she's tried to lead, she's only a kid and she sounds like a warrior. His emotion grew stronger with every word that came from her mouth, but he had to hold it together until they were all safe and out of the Matrix.

Before he could say anything else, she started fighting him. He blocked every kick and every fist she threw at him, but she didn't give up. She started to get faster—faster than he imagined she could fight—and he knew the Viruses would pick up the speed. He gripped both of her wrists and lifted her into the air, but she kept kicking, so he pinned her against the wall. He quickly took off his glasses and stared into her eyes.

"I know you've forgotten what I look like and that you've gone through things I can't even imagine you going through, but listen to me when I say I'm not a Virus and that we've come to bring you home."

Melanie was quiet for a moment as she stopped struggling and was set down. Could this be her father? Could this be the man that her damaged memories could no longer form a face for but could remind her of how much she used to love him? Of how much she used to dream of finding her family again?

She seemed weak in her realization. "…We?"

Neo nodded. "You're mother and I—everyone." They both heard shuffling footsteps and knew it had to the Viruses. "We have to move fast!"

Neo took his daughters hand and they ran.

"I'm sorry it's been so long, Dessa." Neo said as they ran through hidden passages and doorways. He called her by her real name; she could now feel her memory slowly restoring itself.

"It's Ok, dad, I know why it took so long. I've been doing my own research."

They were almost to their destination when four Viruses came blocked their way.

"These guys are fast…" Neo said under his breath as he stepped in front of Dessa, shielding her.

"I can fight!" Melanie hissed.

"I know you can, but we can't risk it! Your mother's waiting through that door." Neo pointed to the only door with light behind it.

Melanie hesitated, watching her father fight like she's never seen before.

"Go!" Neo repeated.

Melanie turned and ran to the door, one Virus following her. She swung it open and slammed it shut, thwarting him. She leaned against the door, panting heavily. She looked around the big empty room and caught her breath in silence, but only for a moment. She was still leaning against the door when she felt a slam against it on the other side; the collision threw her to the ground. She couldn't help but wonder if that was her father driving someone into the wall or the other way around.

She heard footsteps and looked up to see a woman who was also wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket. She threw off her glasses when she saw Melanie and ran to her. This had to be her mother.

Trinity could see that Melanie was too much in shock to get up, so she got on her knees and took her daughter into her arms. "Finally…" Melanie heard her mother say as she held her close.

"Quickly," Trinity got up and helped Melanie to her feet. "We have to hurry."

They entered another room with three other people in it. Melanie felt in her heart that she knew them, but everyone but her parents was completely erased from her mind years ago.

"Take this." Trinity held out a red pill to Melanie, who didn't hesitate to take it. If they weren't in a hurry, she would've asked why she didn't get a choice, but she knew this was serious.

She could think of nothing to say, so Melanie took it without a word and waited for reality to come.


	3. Waiting

Chapter 2: Waiting

"You heard from the twins yet?" Neo asked Morpheus. They were sitting at the table, having nothing really to do but wait until Dessa woke up. It'd almost been an entire month since they freed her, and still she's unconscious. Her body was fine, thriving actually, it was her mind that trapped her in sleep. It wasn't a coma, but something similar; a direct result of the Virus' coding. No one knew the real reason for the Virus' torture, but it apparently had more to do then just tamper with memories.

"Yes, Niobe got a call from them last night asking about Dessa." Morpheus answered. "She doesn't remember them, does she?"

Neo shook his head. "Probably not."

Morpheus sighed. "I hope Acantha takes it well, they were quite close."

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a moment before a memory made Neo laugh.

"What?" Morpheus asked with a slight smirk, needing to know.

"I was just thinking, remember when you tried Kineta's ZBMT* on Acantha for the first time?"

Morpheus nodded his head and smiled, knowing exactly the memory. Kineta's Zion Born Mind Transmitter was one of her most secretive inventions. It can transport anyone into the Matrix. They used to use it often when their kids were younger so that they could become friends. "She was the most excited I'd ever seen her." He sighed, the memory having somewhat of a lasting effect on him.

"Those were the days." Morpheus continued. "Raising the kids when peace was new, when rules didn't restrict us from bringing them on board from time to time." He sighed again. He missed his kids, but when he looked at Neo, all he could think about was how happy he was for Neo and Trinity. Even though their daughter was not yet awake, she was alive and in the real world where she belonged.

"I hardly get to see them anymore. I'm recruiting them up as soon as they're eighteen." Morpheus said with a hardy laugh.

"You're not going to give them a choice?" Neo replied, almost incredulously. Morpheus was always so open about choice, but apparently not when it came to his children.

"Well, I probably will." Morpheus confessed, crossing his arms, his low voice daring to get lower as the subject became more serious."But its obvious Acantha wants to work on the ship. I'm not sure about Adrastros. Niobe just told me that he's quit the Martial Arts Academy to better learn how to pilot a ship."

Neo leaned in his elbows on the table, hesitating to answer. "Like mother like son?"

"Yes, something along those lines." He looked at the table, thinking, and then back to Neo. "Personally, I think it's self sacrifice."

"But why?"

"For Acantha. They both love martial arts, but I think he's trying to grow up too soon. He's trying to separate from her so that their not characterized as one. Which…makes sense, but—"

"Morpheus." Neo interrupted. "I think you're over thinking this. What if that's what he wants. What if he doesn't want to be attached to Acantha his whole life?"

Morpheus shook his head, he knew his son better than that. He was selfless and cared more for his sister than anyone else in the world. His children were obviously at odds with each other for some reason, that reason hidden from him at the moment. It worried him.

They were silent again. It would be a few days until they reached Zion; they had until then to prepare Dessa for what lay ahead, if she would just open her eyes.

Neo and Morpheus looked at each other; and then down the hallway where they knew Trinity was sitting in their room, watching her daughter breathe. They both got up at the same time to join her.

Trinity heard their footsteps approaching and soon felt Neo's hands on her shoulders. They stood there for some time, waiting some more.

"She wasn't scared, was she?" Trinity asked, with a slight shake in her voice.

Neo knew Trinity was beyond concerned and that behind her strong eyes was a fear she'd been trying to contain for three years. It was fear of the unknown, an unknown that only Dessa could enlighten.

"No, she wasn't scared. She was just the opposite. She acted like she'd been dodging Viruses for years." Neo answered.

"She probably has been." Morpheus said.

Trinity put her hand over one of Neo's and gently held it. "She really didn't recognize you?"

Neo didn't answer right away. "No. She actually tried to fight me."

"She tried to fight you?" Morpheus repeated. "She must have been training then."

"Yeah, maybe by herself, but I don't know how. She was fast, really fast. That's how the Viruses found us."

"She could have been training with someone." Trinity said, in a rather hollow voice.

Neo understood why Trinity would try to convince herself that Dessa's last three years weren't as trying as they thought they were, but the little evidence they had only proved the worst.

"Maybe, but she seemed to have been living on the streets." Neo said through his teeth, knowing that the truth hurt, but believing that ignorance was never truly bliss. "I don't know if anyone would have trained with her then." Neo said.

It pained him to say it. Their daughter had most of her memory erased shortly after they left the Matrix and had been living alone and on the streets for probably close to a year.

"I just feel so guilty…" Trinity's voice was faint.

Neo hugged her from behind and felt her cold face against his.

"She understands. She told me so." Neo reassured her.

"What else did she tell you?" Trinity asked.

Neo thought for a moment. "She said she's been doing her own research."

"She must have been looking for you." Morpheus thought out loud.

Trinity couldn't speak as silent tears streaked down her face. She'd been crying like this for days now, her memories and emotions mixing together in a confusion of energy. By Neo's nightly reassurances, she had finally believed that she wasn't a failure as a mother, although she felt like one. It was nowhere near her fault that the Virus' launched an attack just after they woke up and out of the Matrix. It was not her decision to stay out of the Matrix, it was an order for their safely, although she didn't give a shit about her safety. Time would tell if Dessa could forgive her, and if she could forgive herself. She only prayed that her little girl wake, to prove that she was alive and well.

…

Dessa felt like she was floating she was so light headed. She tried opening her eyes, but fatigue had her almost helpless. But once she realized where she was, fatigue had no handle on her. She jerked awake, blackness engulfing her vision. It was cold in the open air, but she could feel warmth just beside her. In the quiet, she heard the slow, steady breathing of another. Could it be? She waited a few moments before her vision adjusted to see her mother, sleeping just next to her. Where was her father? How long had she been asleep?

She waved off her own questions and got out of bed, heading towards the door. She noticed her clothes. Not much different from what she wore on the streets. They were loose fitting, but warm and comfy. Clean, they were clean, something she'd learned to live without. It was nice for a change, although she missed her hood, the absence of its weight a bit weird. Then she realized that her hair was nearly all gone, that it no longer covered half of her face. She felt her scalp with both hands, her fingers running through her short hair. She must have been asleep longer than most free-borns if her hair was already growing back.

She noticed the wheel on the door and hesitated, not sure of how to open it. It only took her a moment to figure it out, and as she pushed the door open, she tried not to make too much noise. She didn't want to wake her mother just yet, she had some exploring to do. The real world had been merely childhood stories and news flashes to her, so now, she had a need to discover just what lay beyond that door. She had to see her first glimpse of the real world—her parents' world—for herself.

It was alarming how different reality felt. Everything was solid; she couldn't look past walls even if she wanted to. She could no longer bend things with her mind or analyze her surroundings. Her bare feet felt the cold metal and relished in the chill that went down her spine. She couldn't control this world; this was what true bliss was. Better than any blackout she'd ever had.

As her eyes further adjusted to the dim light, she ran her hands against the wall and felt her way to the core. The wires and occasional sparks of electricity already felt like home.

She noticed a bright light coming from the corner of her eye as she approached another hallway. Maybe someone was awake, she shouldn't go near. But it was no use, her feet were already taking her closer, disregarding logic. When she got close enough, she could see the all too familiar sight. _The Matrix_. She gasped when she saw it. It was here, too, in her dream world of everlasting peace.

Apparently, the person watching the feed heard her, twisting in the chair ever so slightly. Once that person had a glance of her, they spun around fully. The air between them was eerie, although Dessa had no idea why. The person whom she knew had to be a man looked at her as if she were a ghost. She studied him as he studied her, although she had the advantage of the Matrix feed to light half of his face. He looked much too familiar. This was no coincidence, there was no mistake. This was her father.

He made the first move. He stood, wasting no time in walking to her. His footsteps persistently echoed against the metal walls. Dessa could feel her heart beating faster, feeling a belonging she had once known so well rush back to her as she gratefully received his tight embrace. She buried her face in his chest, breathing in his scent as if to memorize it. She couldn't fight the tears, and neither could he. She felt a comfort she'd been too long without as he ran his hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Dessa…" he whispered, loving the fact that he could say her name and hear a response. Three years he'd lived without being able to do as much as say the word without feeling absolutely helpless.

"Dad." She said, looking up, bleary eyed. "It's been too long. I've been living in the dark for too long!" She was choking up now, leaning into her father's hand now cupping her cheek.

He was about to say something when his eyes darted just above her head. "So have we." He said.

Dessa knew what this meant as she turned around, seeing her mother only a few feet away. Her first instinct was to run to her, which she did not resist. She delved into her mother's arms and felt the immediate impact. Her mother was shocked, as her father had been, so she too didn't fight the tears. She could feel her mother's body shaking a bit, weakness overcoming her. She was tired, more so than Dessa had ever witnessed. She knew instantly that they must have been searching for her all this time, never resting. She looked up at her father who was now behind Trinity, his hands firmly on her shoulders. He was just as tired. They'd all been through hell to get to each other, she knew that now. How could she ever had given up on them?

Dessa suddenly felt ashamed of herself for having let go of her dreams to find them just a year ago. She wanted to tell them, but the guilt was too much for her.

"If…if I hadn't run away…" she tried to start, but her mother wouldn't allow it.

"Shhh. It's alright." She reassured, kissing Dessa's check,

"I'm sorry…" Dessa whispered, her head hanging low, unable to voice her full apology.

"You don't have to apologize." Neo said softly, bringing her head back up with his hand. "You're here now. Nothing else matters."

In this moment, she felt safe once again, like she had in what felt like a long time ago, her parents enshrouding her in love and protection. Slowly, she felt her memories restore themselves, like they'd been hidden in her heart this whole time. Still she felt at a loss from most knowledge she used to have, but the broken memories of her parents had returned to her. She felt that nothing could possibly harm her now.


	4. The Sophia

**A/N: I'd like to thank my friend ****CassandrAki**** for giving me the name **_**Sophia**_** for the new vessel.**

Chapter 3: The _Sophia_

Neo appeared in the doorway of the mess hall that morning, a wide grin on his face. Morpheus caught it first, the rest of the crew too tired to notice. He gave Neo a questionable look, asking with his eyes, but already knowing in his heart.

Neo took a few steps inside, coaxing his daughter to come into the light from behind. The entire crew went wide eyed within seconds of seeing their sleeping beauty finally out of bed. They soon rejoiced in their victory, the younger crew members high fiving each other and then introducing themselves.

"Hey, I'm Clash." Said a girl looking only the minimum age to be recruited. She had quite the first impression on Dessa, her spunk a bit contagious. "This guy's Bucky. He's not important."

"Hey, try saying that again when I plug you into the Matrix, if you're that lucky." A young man said. He looked in his early twenties, it being evident to Dessa why Clash had just called him 'Bucky.' His buck teeth were quite hard to miss. "The name's Zak, you're operator. And _she's_ the only who calls me Bucky." As he said this, he pushed Clash out of the way by way of shoving her head to the side, his hand messing up her carefully spiked short hair.

"Calm down you two, give her some room." Niobe said, pulling both her privates away from the back of their shirts.

They both shrugged her off, taking a seat on opposite of where Dessa was now sitting with her parents. Clash leaned over the table and touched Dessa's hand to get her attention. She then pointed to a rather gloomy figure sitting in the shadows. "That's Eeyore over there. Never can find his tail."

Right then, Zak elbowed her hard in the side. She feigned to be more injured than she actually was, causing Zak to roll his eyes. "That's Tomb. He's just as new the _Sophia_ as you are." He turned to look at Tomb. "Say 'hi,' won't yah?"

Tomb waved lightly, Dessa unable to see his eyes. She waved, although warily.

"Don't worry, he's not all human. He's too much machine for his own good." Zak said trying to clear things up, but only confusing Dessa even more. "He's _half_ human. Don't sweat it, we'll explain later." Zak finished, getting an eye from Neo not to overload his daughter with too much information.

"Is Victor still at the feed?" Clash asked, changing the subject with ease. She leaned out to see make sure. "Yep. He's either _damn_ committed or just plain _crazy_. I'm still surprised he let you watch last night, Neo. He never lets _me_ take a shift."

"That's because he doesn't trust you." Zak practically spat out. "He also knows how _terrible_ you are at reading code."

Before Niobe could smash their heads together, Morpheus intervened first. "Enough." Is all he had to say.

The conversation that then commenced mostly consisted of what exactly Dessa remembered from her past, which wasn't much.

"I vaguely remember the name," Dessa said to Niobe, who'd asked her if she remembered Acantha, "but I know deep down that I used to know, if that makes _any_ sense…" Dessa trailed off and clenched her own head as if she could bring back memories at will. She took comfort that her parents were sitting on either side of her, her mother holding her left hand.

"I mean, all I could remember were my parents…" she looked at both of them, "and I couldn't even picture your faces."

"So, do you remember what happened after we left?" Neo asked Dessa.

Dessa answered as soon as she finished gulping down her water. "Well, it's real fuzzy. I only remember being taken and having it feel like forever before Seraph found me." She stopped for a moment. "You don't know what happened there, do you?" she directed this question towards her parents.

The world knew little about what had been happening in Zion since three years ago when the Viruses almost entirely crashed their feed to the Matrix, which was the reason why it took a few years to be able to re-enter it to find their lost daughter. Every now and again, they were able to send and receive messages, so they had a small clue about what had happened, but knew nothing near the truth.

Neo answered, "No, we don't."

"Well, do you want to?" Dessa said hesitantly, knowing very well that everyone on the ship was dying to know.

Neo looked at Trinity, who answered, "Yes, we do."

Dessa took in a deep breath, having a lot to tell. "First, they interrogated me. I remember that much into the past. They realized that I wasn't gonna say anything, so they tried coding me."

"They coded you for information? What information?" Morpheus asked.

"I seriously don't know." She answered in earnest. "But I don't think I had what they were looking for."

"Or they couldn't reach it." Niobe said, sharing a somewhat knowing look with Morpheus.

Dessa didn't notice this and continued. "Whatever it was for, it was…" she was about to say 'the worst torture in existence,' but decided against it, her mother was hurting enough. "…the worst. They did it so much that I started to lose my memory. That was probably just a bad side effect."

"Like the near coma you were in." Zak said under his breath. These Viruses were a mystery, it drove them all crazy not knowing just what they were after.

"They probably scanned all my abilities. I think that's how they used to be able to track me, because if I did anything supernatural, they were there. They probably scanned my appearance, but they couldn't use it, they're blind as bats."

"These Viruses sound weak. Their codes must not have been very strong if they tried their process so many times." Zak remarked. He'd tried studying Viruses as much as possible, but with the limited Matrix feed, there wasn't much to go by.

"I've been hearing a lot about Virus attacks lately, they don't sound that weak." Clash chimed in.

"They must be getting stronger." Morpheus said. Hearing it from his voice made it kind of official, there was no doubt they were getting stronger. "And they have strategy. We know that much." He was referring to the Matrix feed crash as well as Dessa's capture to try and lure Neo and Trinity into the unknown. That was risky on both sides.

"How long were you captive?" Neo asked Dessa, pulling the conversation back from where it wondered off.

"Seraph and the Oracle said I was there for almost ten months, but I had no clue. They must have coded me a hundred times or something, my brain almost couldn't take it. I was constantly in and out; they drugged me, tested me, I woke up and wobbled around, repeat."

Trinity was in a constant swing of emotions. She was proud of her daughter for being so bold, but at the same time couldn't stand what pain she had to go through—alone.

"How long did you stay with the Oracle?" Neo asked, persistently speaking the questions everyone wanted the answers to.

Dessa hesitated, but knew that the truth was the only way. "Not long. Seraph was hurt after he saved me and…I didn't think he could get hurt. When I left, he was still healing. I didn't want that to happen again."

"Seraph's purpose is to protect, and you left to protect him?" Morpheus asked this question, intrigued by her bold move.

"Yeah, and it worked." Dessa said, leaning on the table. "I didn't get taken again, he'd taught me enough so that I could defend myself and I learned enough on my own to avoid them completely." Dessa said this in a kind of defensive way, knowing she would be ridiculed for her reckless actions.

"You could've gotten yourself killed." Trinity said, causing a short silence.

Dessa then realized how her mother must have felt knowing that she had been living alone for so long. "Sorry, mom. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

Trinity gazed at her daughter for a moment and knew that she couldn't be hard on her. They had each other and she was safe…for now at least. The entire crew knew that this safety and reassurance would only last so long, and although no one had a clear idea of what the prophecy would bring, they knew this happiness would be interrupted by _something_.

…

Dessa was shown around the ship after she distastefully ate her breakfast. Clash insisted on being her guide, knowing that she wouldn't get away with teaching her anything with her parents around. She was quite the mechanic and she knew a fast learner when she saw one.

Dessa was quite restless and reader to be useful, so Clash put a wrench in her hand and started the lesson.

Only about an hour later, Dessa was tinkering with the hovercraft's broken spare engine, Clash's personal project.

"You'll get along with Magma. He actually really wants to meet you." Clash told her while they were working on the engine with Zak. "He's a first ranking mechanic; my age. He knows your parents pretty well because of his dad, Kid."

"His dad's name is 'Kid'? Dessa asked.

"Yeah. When he got to Zion, he was basically everyone's kid. Thus the name."

"His rescue is a legend." Zak chimed in, stopping his work for a second, rubbing the grease off his hands. "He woke_ himself _up. Didn't need a pill_."_

"Wow." Dessa said, impressed.

"Yeah, but he was convinced that your dad saved him. He was kinda like a groupie." Clash said, mockingly.

"Ha! Can you imagine that? Cause I can't." Zak said. "He's one of the greatest generals Zion's ever seen!"

"Everybody changes." Clash shrugged. "Hey, you might even change to be a handsome gentleman one day, Bucky." Now she was joking. Dessa laughed at their constant teasing, siding with Clash on the oddity of Zak's teeth. They seemed out of place on him; he was a tall, muscular and had a marvelous head of brown hair. The buck teeth just seemed weird to both of them.

Tomb sat quietly in the background, listening in contentment. Dessa looked back at him, noticing that he hadn't said a word this whole time.

"Tomb?" Dessa asked. He looked at her with a questionable look on his face; he hadn't expected that. "You can talk, right?" she kept at it after the silence.

"Sometimes. When I have to. If it's important" he replied.

"So, would you talk with me if I started a conversation? Or would you ignore me if it wasn't important?"

"I'd probably ignore you." He replied evenly, almost mechanically.

After something like ten seconds of staring, Dessa shrugged. "Fair enough." She smiled at him briefly and went back on to talking to Clash and Zak while at work on the engine. There was something familiar about him that she just couldn't put her finger on.

As she looked away and happily kept at her work, Tomb let out a small sigh of relief. His cover was almost blown.


	5. First Steps

**A/N: Alright, there's actually some fighting-action in this chapter for those of you bored with the saturated story mode I've been in for a while. Of course, for those of you who **_**do**_** like the saturated story line, stay tuned.**

Chapter 4: First Steps

Dessa sprang up from her sleep, breathing heavily. She looked to her right where her parents had been last, sleeping soundly beside her.

Trinity came into the room with two cups of hot water. She saw Dessa give a slight sigh in relief, close her eyes, and relax a little. She understood.

"It's like that the first night, you wonder if you really got out of the Matrix." Trinity said, smiling to herself, still overjoyed about Dessa's rescue. It was hard not to show it.

"So," she continued, sitting next to her daughter, handing her a drink, "was it a nightmare?"

"No." Dessa said calmly; simply. "I just still surprised is all. I half expected to wake up in that alley."

Trinity nodded, hiding the distaste she still had for Dessa having lived on the streets. Still, she was amazed with how much Dessa had grown in the past three years, physically and mentally. The last time they had talked was when Dessa was eleven, she seemed to be so small back then; she was shorter and she used smaller words. But now, she's a young woman at fourteen, the same age Trinity was when she was taken out of the Matrix.

In just two days, they would be in Zion, and Dessa's world would instantly expand that much more. When Trinity had arrived in Zion the first time, reality finally set in. Waking up was an experience, but actually seeing the hundreds and thousands of people living in isolation _really_ woke her up. But over time, she realized that it also took something away. In the Matrix, she had a reputation and a comfort zone; that all changed. Even though she was basically alone in the Matrix, she felt even more alone out of it.

All she could get herself to do was learn; drown herself in knowledge and ability. She wanted to be the best; she didn't exactly know why, but being social was one thing she couldn't muster up the strength to do. It wasn't really until she joined the Neb that she began to socialize and become comfortable with a set group of people. That gave her some peace, but still, she felt an emptiness that she believed would never be filled, and she didn't need it to be, she would have lived and fought anyway. Her love for Zion was enough to fight for, she didn't need anything else.

Then they found Neo. It was a match made in heaven, people would say. She didn't believe in heaven, but she knew they were right. They were made for each other, although she didn't know it at first. The first few days he was on the Neb, she knew it; it was unmistakable, she loved him. But why? He was so new; he didn't get anything. He was still Thomas Anderson. Little did she know, it was Neo who she would really fall for. It was Neo who she would come to trust with her life as well as her heart.

When they were together, they felt as if they had always known each other. They both knew that the emptiness they had felt in the past was gone forever because they had finally met. Yeah, Neo had that same emptiness. Unfortunately, they also knew that the prophecy would attempt to take that personal peace away from them, both of their lives completely vulnerable to the war that would kill thousands.

Now the inevitability of having a new conflict burdened them to the extreme. It wasn't just them who had to face it, Dessa had to as well. This was her prophecy to fulfill. Trinity didn't know how Dessa felt about being the One, but she knew they had to talk about this soon. Right now, she wanted all the time she could get with her daughter because she knew there wasn't going to be much of it.

A few hours later, the Hovercraft was approaching the landing dock when Dessa came out from the cock pit. At first, she was observing how Niobe drove; there were so many things to look at, she would've stayed in there all day to find out what every button and lever was for. But as soon as they were through the gate, she was stunned by the reality of Zion. It was like nothing she thought it would be; it was beautiful in its own way, like nothing in the Matrix. Once she looked down and away from the seemingly endless stories of Zion above her, she noticed a large amount of people standing around, probably waiting for her. This gave her kind of an anxious feeling in her gut, and she turned away in search of one peaceful moment before departure.

Neo, who was standing just outside the cock pit, took Dessa's arm when she walked past and pulled her close to him.

"Today's the day. You nervous?" Neo said, holding his daughter's hands.

"Me? Nervous? Nah. But…" her tone contradicting her statement, "there are a lot of people out there."

"You'll get used to it." Neo said with a smirk on his face, unable to fully suppress a smile. "People used to mob me, but it was in respect, so I always listened to them. I don't know how people will be with you, so we're just going to have to wait and see."

…

Kid waited with the wondering crowd, blending in to a normal eye, but he knew his friends would be able to find him. There wasn't really a designated mob, there were just a lot of people walking around, probably trying to seem inconspicuous. But he knew, most of these people were Zion-born-prophecy-maniacs waiting to see the new prophet take her first steps on Zion with their two own eyes. Of course he wanted to meet Dessa, but he knew he would eventually; there would be time.

His eyes scanned the area, looking for his son, Magma, who he'd lost minutes before to the crowd. He finally spotted him talking with his work partner, Silver. Magma was a young and talented mechanic at age eighteen while Silver was a prodigy mechanic among other things who had Magma wrapped around her finger.

He watched them together, his son shamelessly gazing at her; Silver ignoring his subtle signs of affection. She was sharp as a knife and they all knew that there was no way that she couldn't notice his passively loving ways.

Kid rolled his eyes at his son's helplessness. Why did he have to fall in love with the _coldest_ girl in Zion? Was it his son's destiny to live a lonely life filled with hopeless longing? Who knows? Maybe Silver would change.

Acantha and Adrastros were waiting not too far from Kid. They came for a number of reasons, the first, to see their parents.

"I'm not apologizing to you." Acantha said, arms crossed, still gazing in the path the hovercraft would soon come from.

"I didn't expect you to." Adrastros said flatly.

"…But if we're going to meet Dessa…" Acantha hung on the word, taking her brother's full attention, "we have to convince mom and dad that we're cool."

Adrastros looked at her blankly; his usual look now that she was so mad at him all the time, and smiled slightly. "Truce?"

"Truce. For Dessa."

They shook hands, both secretly relieved that their dispute was temporarily over, but in the back of their minds, they knew they still had a lot to settle.

…

Dessa walked out in between her parents, and looked out into the real world. Just as Kid thought, Trinity found his eyes immediately and waved. Neo looked in his direction and nodded, taking his daughter's shoulder.

Morpheus and Niobe found their kids quickly, and they seemed fine with each other and eager to meet Dessa. Both parents could see through their scheme, but were nonetheless happy they were scheming together.

As they watched the twins make their way through the crowd, Niobe's mind was elsewhere. She looked up at Morpheus once they were relatively alone, making their way towards the conference room to report Dessa's successful rescue.

"You remember what she said a few days ago? About those Viruses coding her and not finding anything?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Morpheus nodded. "We'll leave that out of the report. For now."

…

Dessa followed Acantha and Adrastros to the School of Martial Arts within the Junior Academy. They escaped the crowd of people that slowly began to form as quickly as possible. Dessa's only sign of permission to leave was from her mother who nodded to her while talking to Kid. Acantha recognized Dessa immediately, and although Dessa couldn't remember, she felt deep down that she could trust her.

The twins both knew that the students were probably so focused that they wouldn't even notice their coming in. They were right, and for about an hour, they roamed around, watching different ongoing matches. Acantha noticed Dessa's anxiety obviously from being in this new world and knew that it would probably help if she could let off some steam. Acantha lead them to an empty dojo.

She quickly walked inside and seemed completely in her element, as if the dojo was her home.

"You're like me when it comes to fighting, I can tell." Acantha said when they entered. "When you see a match, you want to be in it. When you're in a match," Acantha stood a few feet from Dessa, "you want to win."

Dessa smirked. "A friendly showdown?"

"Show me what you got."

Adrastros sighed and stood aside as he watched the two girls battle it out.

"Instant friendship." He said to himself as a smirk appeared in his face. He leaned against the dojo wall and analyzed the battle.

Of course, Acantha had a more skillful, trained form and strategy, but Dessa caught up eventually. She started out blocking hits for some time, but she was able to turn it around. Adrastros was impressed with her brute strength and energy; she was fast and furious in the real world as well as in the Matrix, but she needed more training if she was going to get anywhere. And although in the heat of battle, they both looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Acantha was obviously holding back at first, but when Dessa seemed to have had a gap in her thinking and brutally pushed her back with no form or rule whatsoever; with nothing but strength, Acantha landed harshly on her back, and without hesitation, the bar officially rose.

Adrastros noticed someone come from behind and stand next to him, but he didn't turn his head to see who it was, he already knew. Her approach was accompanied by the more than familiar tap of her steel toed boots. Adrastros was also highly sensitive when it came to energy, so he could tell by her cold, intense, competitive aura that it was Silver, daughter of the infamous Captain Crater.

Sure, both Acantha and Dessa were very competitive, but Silver, she was a monster. She wasn't ever a student in the School of Martial Arts and her skill was feared. It wasn't her outward appearance that was striking, either; on the outside, she looked completely calm. She moved slowly and her face appeared soft; there wasn't a sharp edge on her body. It was her eyes that made the difference; it was like there was a fire burning behind those eyes.

And yet, Adrastros knew that he couldn't judge, he didn't know her true self; he didn't know who Magma was really in love with.

"Hey. Who's the new kid?" Silver asked, as if she was actually interested.

"Look at her face. Who does she look like?" Adrastros replied with a hint of annoyance in his regular calm, flat tone of voice.

Silver had already guessed that it was Dessa, the terribly important prophet daughter of the resurrected saviors, but she wasn't completely sure. She predicted that she would be hanging around Morpheus' children, but didn't think she'd be this easy to find.

Adrastros flashed his eyes toward the fight and back to Silver, waiting for her to look. She smirked and decided to humor him. She watched the now fast paced fight and observed Dessa's moves. She'd never personally seen Trinity fight, but she knew at first glance that she moved like Neo. Once she had a decent glance at her face, her mood began to change.

Adrastros smiled to himself at her realization of reality. It was well known, at least among their peers that Silver didn't believe in the prophecy although her father was a huge advocate.

Silver stared at her, and then looked at Adrastros as if to ask him "is this for real?" She quickly saw the triumphant smile on his face and she immediately resumed to her blank, unimpressed expression. There was something about Dessa's striking resemblance to both her parents that made a chill go down Silver's spine. It's a miracle she was even taken out of the Matrix; it reminded her of her own story.

For several moments, Silver and Adrastros were caught in each other's stare, neither willing to back off, as if they were in a battle of their own. A loud slam broke concentration as they both swerved their eyes to the match. Dessa was on the ground face down, slowly picking herself up. Acantha was now at ease, knowing she'd won. The two girls looked at each other in seconds of silence, which eventually turned into laughter, not exactly knowing why. It had been a long time since either of them had laughed and they were enjoying it for what it was worth.

They heard a slow clap and finally noticed Silver standing next to Adrastros.

"Very good, princess. Already pretty coordinated and only three days fresh from the Matrix." Silver said.

Dessa took offence to the way she called her "princess" and felt an anger begin to settle in her; a type of subtle frustration she'd never fully understood. It came whenever she had to defend her pride, something that didn't happen often because of her secret identity in the Matrix.

"Don't call me princess." Is all she could say.

Silver smirked an almost sinister smirk. It would be fun messing with her.

"Ok, Roamer." She said, merrily replacing "princess" with the Greek meaning of the name "Dessa," which is more precisely "roaming."

Dessa found this odd, and a little creepy. Not many people knew the meaning of her name, and those who did, she'd told. This stranger was obviously smart.

Silver stepped forward, but kept her distance. "Now it's my turn."

Acantha stepped in, finding that request completely unorthodox, even for Silver. "Come on, she just had her ass handed to her—no offence." Acantha added, turning to Dessa.

"None taken, it's the truth." Dessa replied.

Silver kept smirking. "So you're modest, too. If it wasn't for the fact that you're still weak, you'd be the perfect savior."

Dessa seriously had no idea what to say to this girl, she was unnecessarily intense and seemingly heartless, she acted as if she had hated her for years, but they'd only just met.

"You don't have to fight, Dessa." Acantha said.

"Come on, Roamer. We'll only play a little game." Silver countered, sounding mockingly innocent. She took a silver ring from her right index finger and tossed it in the air, catching it a second later.

"It's a fun game," she continued, "you just have to take the ring from me. Sounds easy, don't it?"

Dessa just stood there, staring, fists calmly at her side, her blue eyes steady and unmoving. She looked at Acantha, then at Silver, and began to walk away.

Silver waited until Dessa reached the door until she started to speak. "Walking away from a challenge? Doesn't sound much like a savior of Zion—doesn't sound like what _The One_ would do. Are you even fully aware of what being The One means?..."

She waited for an answer, but got nothing.

"Would Neo have walked away? He sacrificed his _life_ for Zion. That was the ultimate challenge. But this—this is just a harmless game."

When Dessa just stood there, back turned to her, Silver kept on talking.

"Is Zion's _Chosen One _really this much of a coward? How on earth is the prophecy going to be fulfilled? Is it possible that you were born for nothing?"

That was one step too far. _Way_ too far. Dessa turned and looked into Silvers eyes in disgust. Silver actually _meant_ it, she could tell just by looking into the fire in her eyes.

Was she really a coward? No—she couldn't let what this crazy chic was saying get to her, she knew very well that she was just trying to mess with her head. But why? It didn't matter why, now. Dessa was so aggravated that now she wanted to play the game—and she wanted to win.

Silver anticipated Dessa's first move, which was a full on charge. She threw the ring high in the air and quickly knelt to her knees, causing Dessa to nearly trip and fall over her, but she managed to jump, land on her hands and summersault to a save. By the time she twisted herself to face Silver, the ring was in her hands again. So there was a call for strategy in this game, Dessa thought to herself.

She tried to kick Silver's fist, but her leg was forcibly pushed away. This quickly became similar to the fight that had just taken place, but this time, Dessa was learning from her mistakes.

Occasionally, Silver would throw the ring into the air, changing the game and the strategy. Dessa would have to concentrate on two things at a time while remaining seemingly in form; she knew her recklessness would not help her win this game. Somehow, Silver knew where the ring was going to fall every time; a sign of rigorous training. Dessa was mostly concentrating on offence, but was constantly thwarted by that ring. As much as she wanted to use form, but her patience was growing _very_ thin.

This last time, when Silver threw the ring very high, Dessa used all of her depleting strength to push Silver away. She was thrown a dew feet back, and the ring was heading towards Dessa's extended hand. She ran and jumped, knowing she wouldn't make it before the ring touched Dessa's hand, but it was enough time to mess with her head just a little more.

She knew that Dessa wouldn't grasp it fast enough or tight enough, no first timers did. She used this to her advantage.

Dessa began to close her fist when Silver reached out and swung her arm so fast that she lost her balance and nearly fell over, as if Silver was a strong gust of wind strong enough to do so. She made a fist and swung her arm down to her stomach without hesitation or a gap in her thought, as if Silver didn't just do what she had done.

Silver landed, two loud steel toed taps confirming it, while Dessa warily stood with her fist at her stomach, back towards the spectators.

It was silent for a long moment. Acantha quickly grew impatient and broke the silence.

"Who won?"

Silver looked at her, blankly at first, and then in a slightly sinister way. She held up the ring and put it back on her index finger.

"I did."

With these words, she left and only heard Dessa fall on her knees in defeat. She looked at Adrastros once she reached him leaning by the door.

"See you around, rooky." She said.

"You're a better mechanic than a fighter." Adrastros nearly hissed under his breath, his eyes almost glaring.

She knew he was talking about her dirty fighting. She snickered, then turned completely serious. "You're a better fighter than a pilot."

Adrastros was silent, but his eyes never left her stare. Along with being the most skilled mechanic in Electroid and a decent—indecent—fighter, she also studied piloting.

And with that, she walked off into the dark hallways of the school.

The twins were immune to Silver's natural intimidation, but Dessa, just getting back up off the floor, was drowning in it. There was something about that flare in her eye that she found inspiring, but at the same time, distasteful and just plain scary. But behind that fire, Dessa thought for just a moment—that moment when she had pushed her from the ring's path—that she saw something more than just fire, like there was a strong part of her that was able to love alongside that cruel, slacking sneer she was currently hiding behind.

"Should I avoid her?" Dessa asked, now standing up.

Acantha shook her head. "You won't have to. She lives in Electroid."

Dessa nodded, somewhat in relief, and looked ahead into the dark hallway, listening to the rhythmic tap of steel toe boots against the metal floors. She couldn't help but wonder who Silver really was.

…

As Silver's steps echoed through the empty hallways, a stranger to the particular School stood, waiting. Once she was close enough, she could see him in the dim light. Tomb.

"What do you want, half-metal?" she grimaced, hating the guy. For some reason, she was intimidated by him. It was uncontrollable, and she hated not being in control.

Tomb watched as she stood her ground, almost looking ready to jump him if he did so much as blink. This effect was predictable, but unfortunate nonetheless. In time, her ignorance would lead to her demise.

"I want what you want." He said simply. "Only, I don't want it as much…"

Silver didn't give him another second. She spit in his direction and walked off, the menacing tap of her boots commencing.

When she was only a faint silhouette to him, Tomb looked away and finished his thought. "…half-metal."


	6. Adjustments

Chapter 5: Adjustments

"Should we go looking for her?" Neo suggested.

It had been a few hours since they'd seen Dessa, but they'd just reached their room. They didn't fight the crowd, they were in no hurry. Trinity had seen where Dessa was going and tried to be cool about it. She didn't want to be overprotective, but she knew she was.

They were sitting at the table across from each other. Trinity shook her head. "She'll find us. The twins will probably take her here."

Neo nodded drowsily. There was something about getting home that always made him tired. Trinity was immune to this feeling; she was exactly the opposite, especially after they'd lost signals to the Matrix feed. After that, she just wanted to do something to get her mind off of abandoning her daughter. Self inflicted guilt constantly reined over her if she wasn't thinking of something else. Neo would tell her again and again that it wasn't her fault, there was just nothing they could do at the moment. That helpless moment had lasted for three years, and now, Trinity was finally at peace with herself.

She got up from her chair and pulled up the seat next to Neo. She rested her head on his shoulder and he could feel her relax after three years of constant worry. Of course he'd been worried too, beyond worried, but he needed to comfort Trinity if anything. Nothing good could come out of both of them brooding over the inevitable. There simply just wasn't anything they could do about it.

Neo and Trinity heard young voices outside their open apartment door. Adrastros walked just two steps ahead Acantha and Dessa, apparently acting as the navigator. He stopped at the doorway and waved slightly; a quick flick of the wrist if anything.

"Hey Neo, Trinity. I believe this belongs to you." He said as he pointed to Dessa inching her way into the apartment.

"Gee, thanks for making me sound like a human being, AT." Dessa tiredly mumbled.

"You kids escaped pretty quickly." Trinity said as she got up.

Dessa sluggishly came in and walked into her mother's embrace, at first unknowing.

"It was hectic back there, we're lucky we got out." Acantha said.

"So, where'd you go?" Neo asked, wondering why Dessa looked so exhausted while the twins weren't. "You were gone half the day."

"The school building." Acantha said quickly, wanting to avoid the fact that Dessa lost two matches in a row when she was only three days out of the Matrix. Newbies, as Acantha called them, weren't supposed to exhort so much energy for obvious reasons concerning rehabilitation. If there was to be blame, Acantha knew it was on her.

"We better go." Acantha said, inching toward the door, taking her brother's hand.

"Yeah." Adrastros concurred. "Bye Neo, Trinity, Dessa. Probably see you tomorrow."

"Probably. Bye kids." Neo said, watching them leave. He closed the door behind them, not expecting anyone else to come, and honestly, not wanting anyone to. He turned to his family, both now sitting on the couch. He went to them.

"What on earth were you doing?" Trinity asked.

"Fighting…don't worry…it was just for fun." Dessa said, tiredly.

"You know you shouldn't strain yourself." Neo chimed in.

Dessa nodded. "Yeah, I know."

After some silence, Neo asked, "Who won? You or Acantha?"

Dessa looked at him with a questioning smile, wondering how he knew it was Acantha she fought. "Acantha, duh."

Neo smiled at his daughter's good humor. He was glad that she was a good sport. In those three hard years, it was hard for him not to wonder what she would become without their guidance in her life.

"That fight must have been intense." Trinity commented.

"It was pretty cool, but…" Dessa contemplated on whether she should tell her parents about her recent encounter with someone even more intense then Acantha. She looked at her mother, who was now giving her a look that said, "you hinted at something, now I _really_ need to know."

"But," Dessa continued, "There was this really _intense_ girl, scary too…"

"You fought _two_ people?" Neo asked.

"Who was it?" Trinity asked quickly.

"Her name's Silver."

Trinity relaxed and nodded, as if she knew they were going to meet that way.

Neo cringed. "She _is_ scary."

"Neo!" Trinity scolded, although she completely agreed.

"Sorry." He said.

Trinity sighed. "You'll probably have to deal with her even when she's not around."

"What?" Dessa seemed more awake now. "Why?"

Trinity looked at Neo, then back at their daughter. "Well, right before the Matrix feed crashed, we were forbidden to enter in fear that we would be stuck there."

"We fought for it, we wanted to go in—" Neo stopped when he met Trinity's eyes, knowing that there was no need to explain their absence.

"Crater, Captain of the _Element_, didn't like it either. He'd been in contact with Silver for almost a year. He was going to set her free, but it'd been difficult to do so. The Viruses were after her too, like they were after you, and he'd failed a number of times when trying to reach her. He rebelled against all of Zion when he disobeyed the council and entered the Matrix to save her."

"It was a miracle that they both made it out alive." Neo added, still somewhat in awe from the story, even after three years.

"…what does this have to do with…" Dessa tried to say.

"Because of that rescue and because of her advanced abilities in the Matrix, people believe that she's meant to be the next savior instead of you."

Dessa thought about this for a moment, neither offended nor completely passive. "What are her 'advanced abilities?'" she asked.

"She can stop time within the Matrix." Neo said, somewhat passively, looking at the ground. "I didn't even think that was possible, even if it only lasts for a few minutes."

Dessa was surprised when she heard this, very surprised. What a talent, and it belonged to that fire breathing dragon? How was that possible?

...

Silver prowled across the metal walkway to the train, her steal toed boots clanking against it, warning the world of her approach.

Magma heard this familiar metallic rhythm and turned to wave to her.

"Ready to head off?" he said cheerfully once she came close.

"I should be asking you that. Did you forget anything?"

Magma pretended to look hurt. "Why do you _always_ assume that I'll _always_ forget something?"

"You repeated always…" Silver teased.

"Always!"

"Because you _always_ forget something!" Silver countered.

Before either of them could continue their ritual argument, Magma heard his name coming from the radio hanging off his tool belt. He answered.

"Yeeees?"

"Magma, this is Crater. I'm at the fifth floor pipeline you were suppose to fix an hour ago."

Magma scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion and checked the agenda also hanging from his tool belt. He noticed the only unchecked line of messy hand writing that read, "5th floor pipe."

"Geez! Sorry, Captain, I must have overlooked it."

They both heard Crater sigh over the radio. "It's alright, but you've gotta get over here and help me haul the equipment back."

"Ay, ay, sir!"

"And tell Silver to hold the train if she can."

"Got it, Dad." Silver said over her own radio.

They both cut the connection and Magma looked back to Silver. He was going to say something, but was lost in thought as he began to gaze.

She was used to this, knowing that he had feelings for her, but she was honestly afraid of ruining their friendship—and her reputation for that matter. She acted as if she didn't know to spare him the heartache of rejection.

"Get along, little dog." She said as she turned and walked toward the first car of the train.

Acantha and Adrastros walked down the many hallways heading for their family's room. Adrastros had held onto his sister's hand for some time after they left Dessa to her family. They both felt that today was like the old days, when school and things didn't get in the way of their togetherness. They looked at each other while walking, and they both were thinking the same thing; things might be changing around them, but their bond would never falter.

3 weeks later:

Neo heard footsteps and the sound of cupboards opening and closing. He knew Dessa was awake and getting ready to sneak off into the city. She did this as quietly as possible just about every morning as to not wake them and would always leave a note. Neo knew this aggravated Trinity, and it wasn't his favorite thing either, but they let her go, knowing she was happy doing whatever she was doing—and he knew what she was doing.

Recently, Dessa had been growing more and more unresponsive and sullen—a direct reaction of the sudden change in life style, no doubt. Although she'd been waiting her whole life to be out of the Matrix, her body and mind still needed time to adjust. Neo was unconvinced that she was fully capable of adjusting with her current routine.

He got up, trying not to wake Trinity, although suspecting she was already awake, and made his way to the kitchen.

He found Dessa making herself breakfast—a cereal substance—and she was only slightly surprised to see him up. He sat across the table from her, neither of them saying anything. He watched Dessa eat with a little less vigor than usual. He noticed that she was trying to avoid touching her bottom lip with her spoon; she hid her apparent pain well.

"How'd you get that fat lip?" Neo asked, slyly.

Dessa was caught off guard, but didn't show it. Neo could see right through her and she knew it, but there was no use _not_ trying to match his wit. Once she swallowed, she answered him. "I must have slept on it." She sounded convincing enough.

"You don't sleep on your stomach." Neo countered quickly.

Dessa looked up at him from her breakfast. "And how would you know?" she asked, nowhere near curious, she just wanted him to admit that he checked up on her most every night—overprotective much.

Not ready to admit that, he shrugged off the question. Dessa smiled to herself in a quiet victory. She finished her meal and left her bowl next to the sink. She went over to the couch and began to put her boots on, seemingly ignoring her father's eyes.

"We like to see you once in a while." Neo finally said.

Dessa looked up slowly. She suddenly wondered how much her absence was worrying her parents, but her new found passive behavior stifled her thoughts and quickly came to her defense.

"I'm training for the mission." She said. Yes, the well awaited mission. A few days after arriving in Zion, it was decided that Dessa be trained and ready for her first test mission since the Matrix feed was recovering slowly. There was no specific date yet, and Dessa was yet to be informed about the researchers hypotheses on her purpose of restoring earth, but she would be trained as much as possible, and of course, with parents' consent. Her skills as The One needed to be proved and recorded, which would help with further research on all matters.

"No, I'm there when you're training for the mission." Neo said, which was true. When she was being officially trained, he and Morpheus were her main advisors, while there were a few specialists from the revolution that helped as well.

He got up to sit next to her, but she got on her feet as well and headed towards the door. He blocked the doorway, forcing her to look up at him. "I know you're fighting flesh out there." He said, both informatively and concerned.

"Dad…" she started. She knew she was avoiding her parents because of her apparent addiction to fist fights. "I didn't want you worrying about me getting hurt, that's all." She finally said, looking away. "Do you want me to stop?"

Neo looked at her and thought "yes," but knew very well that she needed this sort of outlet. He would stop her if it got too serious. "Just don't overdo it." He said. "And come home earlier." He pulled his daughter into his arms and they stood in the doorway for a moment in peace.

Dessa looked over her shoulder and wondered about her mother. If her father was worried about her fighting, she knew her mother would be twice as worried.

"Mom still asleep?" she asked.

Neo didn't look up. "Yeah." He lied. "Remember, don't overdo it."

...

Neo stood in the doorway of his room for a long time, watching Trinity breathe. Her back was to him and her slow motions hinted that she had only just recently woken up, but he knew her better than that. He crawled back into bed and took her into his embrace. It was silent for some time before Neo spoke up.

"Did you hear us?" he asked quietly, even though no one else was around.

"Yes." She sighed.

"She'll be fine." He said. It was really all he could think of saying. He knew Dessa would push herself—that was a given—but he had faith that she knew what her limits were.

"I love you."

Trinity sighed again, but was smiling. She rolled onto her other side so that she was facing Neo, who was also smiling.

"Just making sure you know." Neo said, still quietly.

…

Dessa came home only two hours later with a bloody nose and a few scratches on her knees. She didn't see her parents anywhere; a good sign for her to wash up before they found her. She didn't know why she fought so much, she didn't even particularly enjoy it as a hobby. It was more of a coping mechanism than a fascination. She felt she had to fight to keep going, even when in no danger. She'd been living like that for so long, she wondered if she would ever be able to stop.

She turned on the sink and was washing her face when her mother came in the room, seemingly unsuspecting—until she saw the tears in her jeans.

"Did you fall?" Trinity asked.

Dessa looked down at her knees and cursed at herself—not out loud—for forgetting to hide that.

Trinity came closer to her and noticed the blood consistently dripping from her nose. She also saw the dark blood stains on her black sleeves.

"You're hurt." Trinity said sternly. "Sit down." She pointed to the couch and handed her a rag to avoid getting her sleeves any dirtier. Dessa obeyed reluctantly.

Neo came in, somewhat unknowing of the situation. Trinity was cleaning their daughter's knees and she had blood stains on her jeans and sleeves. He immediately became aware and concerned.

"Dessa," Trinity began. "I know what you're going through, but you don't need to prove anything to anyone—"

"I'm not fighting to prove something."

"Then what are you doing it for? Is there a reason?" Trinity was searching with her eyes now.

Dessa couldn't take it. She refused to look in her eyes. Truth…she'd been taught as if it was the only way. What was the truth? "It…" she began, now daring to look up at her father, who was just a few steps behind Trinity. "It makes me feel…alive, Ok?" Tears now threatened to spill out onto her face, but the young prophet held them in.

Trinity thought she understood. Her life in the Matrix had been filled with danger and loneliness. Thus change was slowly working at her, making her even more reckless than she already was. She'd been living on her own for too long, she needed to trust them to take care of her. As she held Dessa by her arms, her words came without much thought. "You're _safe _here. No one's coming after you."

Dessa couldn't possibly fight the tears now. She was ashamed of herself once again, her detachment to people and life in the Matrix having somehow lingered into her new life—was that a sign of weakness?—but she wasn't going to let that happen, not when her parents were finally back into her life.

"I've been running for so long…it's still hard to believe I'm free…I'm sorry…"

Trinity was relieved. She was confident now that Dessa could pull through from her state of listlessness. She got up on the couch and cradled her daughter in her arms.

Neo watched them for a moment before he heard a knock on the door. He briskly walked to it and opened the door half way. It was Morpheus.

"Is this a good time?" he asked.

"I can talk, relay the message." Neo said.

"Good." Morpheus said, motioning for him to come out and close the door. Neo did just that. "Dessa has to go to Electroid."

"When?"

"As soon as possible. She has to become familiar with the K-system."

"Has that been confirmed?"

"It has, she'll be meeting the _researchers_." Morpheus emphasized "researchers," as if to imply some secret code. Neo fully understood.

"Will we all be there?"

"Yes. We'll all be there. This will start Dessa's journey into the unknown." Morpheus looked into Neo's eyes. "Are you ready for this?"

Neo hesitated, looking back as if he could see through metal and watch Dessa now. Dessa was ready for something new, although he didn't want it to come. He didn't want his little girl to have to bare this much responsibility over anything; he wanted her to stay his little girl. He sighed heavily, prying himself away from his own thoughts.

"…I know she is. I know I have to be." Neo said, avoiding to completely answer the question. "I know she'll make us proud."


	7. Electroid

**Ok, more information, slow chapter, I know. It's cool information, so maybe you'll like it. Enjoy.**

Chapter 6: Electroid

Silver was the first to open her eyes. The Matrix would always be a nightmare for her, even if she was only there for a mission.

Crater sat up and looked over to his daughter, who was still lying in her chair. He was more than proud of her for accepting the mission, knowing that she hated the Matrix above all else, but she had to do it; she was the only one so far who was qualified to do what she had just done. She'd stopped time for 45 seconds.

He walked to her. She sat up when he approached with a demoralized look on her face. He was the only one she could completely be herself around because behind that scary, mysterious, rigid character she seemed to be on the outside, she was actually quite sensitive.

"Never again." She said bluntly, her mood immediately changing from discouraged to frustrated.

Crater sighed and put his hands on her shoulders regardless of her mood; he would keep his promise this time. "I'm sorry, but we needed you back there."

"I was pretty useless—I still can't crack the code."

"That wasn't the point of the mission. The mission is complete because of you." He said, although he wanted to say, "it's not your purpose to crack the code," but that sounded too cruel.

"Yeah, all thanks to my 'gift.'" She air quoted the word "gift" and turned her whole body away from him. She was getting tired of being used in missions for her unique power, even if it was for Crater.

Crater was a sturdy man, his thick brown hair turning gray and his square face was slowly rounding out as the years went by. He'd never had children of his own, so when he found Silver, he knew he couldn't just abandon her when her real parents already had. It wasn't because of her power that he rescued her, like so many others believe; it was truly for a selfish reason. He thought that rescuing and taking care of her would be his last chance to actually prove to himself that he wasn't heartless and unable to love. To his crew and everyone below him in rank, he would remain a stone cold captain, ready for anything, but in his home, he would strive to be the perfect, loving father that Silver deserved.

Magma came over from the Matrix feed monitor and stood, waiting for the orders he knew he would receive.

Crater turned and saw him. "Magma, I want you to meet Dessa at the station and show her around Electroid. More importantly, the K-system." He got to his feet and looked back at Silver. "You should go too. You know the K-system better than Kineta herself."

"Hmph, that's not true." Silver gawked. No one knew the K-system nearly as well as Kineta. But if there was anyone who was second place to that, it was her. She continued, "But seriously—be a tour guide to the _princess_? I don't think so." Silver mocked. She got on her feet and started to walk off before her father's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Silver." He said sternly.

She looked back and practically glared at him. She didn't have a father three years ago, but she did now, and he would do anything for her. The least she could do was humor him until the deed was done.

She went back over, her arms folded and her eyes on the floor, walking into his embrace.

"That's my girl."

…

Silver briskly moved onto the platform, Magma close behind. Because she was slightly annoyed, she walked faster than usual and without an expression on her face.

Magma finally caught up when she stopped in front of the entrance where Dessa was supposed to arrive with her parents. They were about fifteen minutes early.

"Why did you bring us here _early_?" Silver said in an almost menacing tone.

Magma was impervious to her temper and ignored her wrath by speaking in a neutral tone. "I need to talk to you before anyone gets here."

"OK, talk."

"Alright." Magma said. He knew by her folded arms and her tone of voice that she wasn't actually going to listen to him, but he knew how to get to her. "This is really personal, Silver, so if you could act just a _little_ sympathetic…"

Silver pouted her lips in refusal, but seeing that he was being serious, she softened up.

"Look…I know you've felt destiny before."

Silver nodded, knowing that he was talking about her spontaneous rescue three years ago. "Destiny" was how Crater described finding her.

"…and Dessa…I think she—"

"Are you trying to say you believe in the _prophecy_?" Silver interrupted, cold once again.

"Yes, and I know you do too, but you've convinced yourself that _you're_ the one that's suppose to fulfill it."

"I don't want to hear this from you right now!" Silver raised her voice and turned away.

Magma took her shoulder and spun her around, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Silver, you can't run away from this! I know that you felt destiny the first time you saw her. I wasn't there, but after that day…" Magma trailed off and loosened his grip on her shoulder.

"What?" Silver said, still annoyed, but curious of what he wanted to say.

"The look in your eyes changed that day. You felt it."

Silver stared at him, at first angry that he would say something like that, but she realized that he knew her too well. "…I did." She quietly admitted. "But I haven't changed."

Magma stared at her; she was looking away. He sighed. "Of course you didn't." he said this with slight disappointment in his voice. "Either way, we have to help her…with whatever she needs."

Silver sighed. "We don't know enough. _She_ doesn't know enough. She'll get killed before we can even get to Smith."

Magma paused for a moment, at first not knowing what to say. He might have scolded her for uttering the word "Smith" because they were sworn to secrecy, but no one was there to listen. He eventually found his words. "I'm sticking with her. I don't care if other people doubt, I'm going to stay believing because that's what my heart is telling me to do."

Silver looked at him. Her eyes softened. These were the eyes few people have ever seen; these are the eyes that reveal what is inside her heart and behind the fire burning constantly in her being. She realized that this conversation wasn't about Dessa anymore. This was about Magma and his commitment to everything his heart was set on, which included her.

"Magma, I'm sorry…for everything I've put you through." She said in a quiet voice, her eyes no longer on him, but on the ground.

"I just want you to give her a chance."

Silver looked up again, but didn't meet his eyes. She sighed, knowing that along with giving Dessa a chance, he also wanted her to give_ him_ a chance.

"If she survives and decides to stay…like the _others_ think," Silver said, a new strength in her voice as the train came in, "I will."

Ten minutes later:

Dessa stepped out onto the platform and saw Magma waving to her, a neutral Silver by his side. She'd met Magma once before when he was apparently hauling some equipment to a train leaving for Electroid.

"_Dessa?" Magma came from around the corner holding a heavy looking tool kit and a cluster of metal pipes over his shoulder._

_Dessa was looking at the view from just outside her apartment. She didn't recognize him, but she wasn't surprised that he knew her name. She looked at him and tried being sociable, despite how tired she was. Magma could see the effect and stopped her before she said anything._

"_Don't worry, I'm your friend. I'm not gonna mob you with questions or praise or anything."_

"_You're my friend? Sorry, but I don't remember—"_

"_No, we've never met. I know your parents. They're like family to me. An aunt and uncle."_

_Dessa nodded and relaxed._

"…_that could make us cousins."_

"_Huh?" Dessa had seemingly stopped listening, he could see the lull._

"_If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, cuz, got it?"_

"_Yeah…" Dessa confirmed, smirking. "Nameless."_

"_Oh, sorry. The name's Magma."_

Dessa was still cautious about Silver. She looked calm from a distance, but looks can be deceiving.

Her parents came from behind and they all walked over to the two mechanics.

"Hey guys, Captain told us to show Dessa around." Magma said.

"Yeah, he told us about that." Trinity said, looking at her watch. She motioned for Dessa to give her the bag she was carrying. Apparently, they had an apartment in Electroid, too. That's where her parents would be going.

Dessa was appreciative that her parents were so flexible by letting her roam around, but she also felt a bit on edge being forced to hang out with Silver; she felt it'd be safer if her parents were nearby. Neo noticed this in her hesitation, but didn't know exactly what to do about it. He thought it would be good for her to go through this alone…for about an hour or two at least.

"Come on, cuz." Magma said once Neo and Trinity were walking away. "We'll show you to the lab. I know you'll love it there."

"OK." Dessa said, a bit passively. Silver noticed this and could immediately relate. She knew what it was like to be so restless that you felt passive about everything. Dessa sensed this understanding when they glanced at each other.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, Dessa thought.

Maybe the princess isn't that helpless, Silver couldn't help but think.

Dessa soon learned that the "K-system" was an enormous data base with the main purpose of storing data. But not just any normal military or whatever data, it was from the Matrix.

"See, the machines proposed that they have a storage system in the city where machines and humans would be living together, which seemed reasonable, but what they wanted Kineta to do with it was way more complicated than that." Magma said more and more enthusiastic as he kept going with one of his favorite stories.

"Cool your jets, you're gonna scare her away." Silver commented.

Dessa couldn't help but smile at their quarreling, and she couldn't help but wonder if they were more than friends.

"Wait, did they choose Kineta or what?" Dessa asked.

"Well, no one knows the exact details—cause she doesn't ever talk about it—but she went to the machine city with other survivors to go look for your parents right after the war ended. She was the best technician they had, so they brought her just in case they needed a translator or something technical. She was one of the only Zion born soldiers that went, and the machines were real interested in Zion natives because they didn't know whether they had codes in their DNA or not*, so they asked to do some tests on her. She accepted and the speculations are that she defied their expectations in a way that made them trust her. No one knows if it was her or the results that made them trust her, but they're committed to either her or her intellect."

"And what were the results?" Dessa asked.

"Since she was second generation native, the machines thought that she should have had half as much code than a person straight from the Matrix, but she had a full coded brain, even more than some first generations."

"Is that unique? Or general?"

"Unique." Silver said. "Apparently, it's a gamble to how much code stays in your brain after you eject from the Matrix—goes the same for being born, I guess. There could be people with no code or some code. It's rare to have as much code as Kineta, that's probably why she'd so gifted. You probably have a lot a' code up there, too, Roamer."

"_Anyway,"_ Magma said, "The machines wanted Kineta to help separate real world data from the fake data that they've made up for the past…however long it's been."

"And to locate lost data. They also thought it would help us find out what year it is." Silver chimed in.

Dessa didn't fully understand, but was now intrigued by the building they were approaching. It was only one story high, but when she looked down the streets, it didn't seem to end.

"The system is built throughout the whole city, so anywhere you go, you can see a apart of it." Silver explained.

"That not all, either, it goes underground." Magma added.

"It's got 5 stories below our feet, and this isn't even the main entrance. The main entrance is built above a giant hole in the ground. Used to be a tunnel or something, but since the main generators need cold air to function, it seemed like the perfect place to build it."

They entered and Dessa found herself in a metal maze of hallways and doors. She followed the mechanics to the only room with a door wide open. The room was filled with screens and towers and wires; strangely, it was messy and organized at the same time. Aside from the technology, there were household items that made it seem more like a home than a lab. There were two mini refrigerators, a couch, chairs, and pictures hanging on the wall.

Magma went over to the only person in the room, a young boy, who was sitting in front of a monitor. He looked over the boy's shoulder.

"What'cha doin', Volt?" he asked.

The boy spun around. He looked about 12 years old. He wore a no-sleeve shirt that boldly showed the plugs that he was born with. Dessa hadn't seen anyone wear their plugs with that kind of pride; it put a smirk on her face.

Volt spoke in a surprisingly raspy voice. "Makin' somethin' for Ma. It's her birthday today."

"You know she hates birthdays," Silver said. "I don't even remember how old she is."

"38 today." Volt said.

"I _did not_ just hear that." Silver said mostly to herself.

Volt looked up from his screen and saw Dessa standing next to Silver. "Are you...Dessa?" he asked, stifling his curiosity to sound more mature.

"How'd you know?" she replied.

"I've seen your picture, _plus_, I knew you were comin' today. That's why I waited here, to watch you learn how to code." Volt seemed proud of himself for being so clever, but glancing at Silver, he'd suddenly realized that he let a secret slip. He wasn't suppose to know anything about what _the researchers _were doing.

"I didn't just hear _that_ either." Silver warned. "Now, if I were you, I'd stop you're mother before she tells you any more _research, _because I could very well report you for that."

"But you're not gonna, are ya'?" Volt said, innocently.

Silver stared at him for a minute, but shook her head. "Your mom would kill me, I'm not messing with her."

Volt smiled and turned back to his screen. His keyboard was a touch screen, so he slid a few things back and forth until his screen went black. "Ok, I'll let you start on this computer, it's the best one for coding—not that I know anything about you coming here to code, I just thought I might set it up for you."

"Good boy." Silver said. Magma rolled his eyes.

Silver sat in front of the monitor next to the one Volt had just left, and motioned for Dessa to come. She did.

"Alright, Roamer, coding helps Kineta do the primary job of separating and rendering. Although…I like to render _some _information, but I'll tell you about that later. Anyway, the codes that we use are basically to clean out the excess that we don't want in order to organize all this crap that we've got. I think of it like cleaning a room. You take one area at a time and separate things that you want to keep and throw away. We can run through an equal amount of random code that's meant to hide what we want and code that's meant to look important, but it really isn't. Follow my moves."

Silver typed in some things in order to get to the coding program. Dessa followed quite easily, working on a computer came naturally to her. Silver suspected this, so she didn't hold back.

"Ok, there are some patterns that you need to learn." Silver started explaining, looking at Dessa. She was already figuring it out. "…But I can't imagine you'll find that difficult."

She didn't know why or how, but as Silver explained the patterns to her, it was like she'd already known them.

"I had to get used to everything, it's kind of tedious work at first. Most people either get bored or don't have the mindset to do this, but you seem to have the hang of it." Of course she has the hang of it, she the friggin daughter of The One, she _is_ The One, Silver thought. The researchers said this might happen, so does that mean…the prophecy is true?

***I'm totally making up the whole code in DNA thing, I don't know anything about whatever I'm trying to talk about, but at least I make it sound convincing, right?**


	8. The Researchers

**A/N: Smith fans…brace yourself. There's a whole lot of weird coming soon.**

Chapter 7: The Researchers

Silver heard someone come in by their footsteps and glanced over her shoulder. It was the saviors themselves, and as they questioned with their eyes, she answered with hers. _She's ready._

"She has the magic touch. Code is merely child's play, huh, Roamer?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Trinity came around and took Dessa's shoulder. "Come on, we've got some people we want you to meet."

Dessa nodded and let Magma take over the program she was working on.

"So, where are we going?" Dessa asked.

"Just around the corner." Neo answered.

Silver watched them leave, forgetting about the program. She looked at Magma, remembering the promise she'd made him. _She might just come back. _

Volt was somewhat hidden behind a pipe line; his slender body almost blended in with it. He also watched as they left, catching Dessa's eyes as she glanced back before disappearing into the metal cavern. He was stunned by her. He felt what he knew Magma called "destiny." With that one glance, he knew Dessa would change the world.

…

The hallways grew darker and more ignored as they went further into the system. Their footsteps echoed through the metal sound chambers the hallways seemed to gradually become.

"You think workers would think this was annoying." Dessa commented under her breath. Her voice echoed quietly.

"Some do." Neo answered. "But there's a reason for it. You'll see."

Neo held Dessa's hand as they guided her through the system. He seemed to need that contact, ever since she'd been freed. It was reassuring if anything, although it kind of made her feel like a small child again, being lead places and being told to meet people.

They soon approached a door that was messily painted blue. Trinity turned the knob—it was the only door with a knob that Dessa had seen—but had to use her whole body to push it open.

"Blue?" Dessa questioned. She looked at her parents, whose eyes told her to wait. What were they waiting for exactly?

When she entered the room, Dessa immediately noticed the gigantic computer screens, almost acting as walls, scanning millions and millions of code for unknown reasons to her. The screens, besides creating walls, made hallways and passages as well. The only person currently in the room was a woman that Dessa guessed to be at least 30 years old. She didn't look very tall. She had dyed blue hair. She was sitting and leaning very close the screen in front of her, her nose practically touching it.

The woman heard them and grunted acknowledgment that they were there, but did not move, still reading. Instead, she waited until she heard their movements stop. Only until then did she back up. She typed something into the keyboard on her lap—which turned out to be hanging from around her neck—and all the screens turned blank from the data they were currently scanning. The woman got up, but still didn't turn around; instead, she looked at her visitors from the reflections of the screens.

"Good to see you again, Neo. And Trinity, too. Sorry, the light must be bad in here. I'll fix that." With some more clicks on her key board, a few screens lit up with white light and the room became brighter.

Neo stepped closer and took the woman's shoulder. "We brought someone else, too."

The woman glanced towards Dessa in the reflection. Her eyes widened. "Ah! You must be Dessa! I've been waitin' to see you! I was wondering who your voice belonged to out in the hallways. I know everyone's voice that comes around here."

"How are your eyes, by the way?" Trinity asked.

The woman shrugged off the question. "Pshh! They're fine! I don't know why everyone worries so much when I can do my job just fine…" she finally turned around. Neo kept hold of her shoulder and steered her towards Dessa. "…I just can't see anything else is all."

"We worry because we're your friends. Wouldn't it be nice to see everything around you without needing screens?" Neo answered.

Dessa didn't fully understand, but knew the woman was blind when she couldn't find her line of vision.

"Dessa," Trinity said. "This is Kineta, the creator of this entire system."

Kineta held out her hand and Dessa took it. "Yeah, yeah, I can tell you don't get it, kid. I've got this condition. I've stared at computers for so long, that they're the only things I can see. Except when I'm in the Matrix, that is."

She let go of Dessa's hand and messed with her own hair.

Dessa was intrigued. "How do you dye your hair blue? No one sells that color."

Kineta nodded. "I make it. Well, I used to. Now my boy, Volt, makes it for me. You met him yet? He's runnin' around the system somewhere."

"I did meet him." She'd just met him, he said he was making a digital present for his mother. "He's your…"

"Son." Kineta finished. "Adopted. A lot a' people adopt around here, if you've noticed. Anyway, you're right about no one selling the color, doesn't mean you can't get it. Used to get a lot of crap for that. Blue pill, they called me. They'd chase me down the streets trying to cut the blue right off my head!"

"Then, why didn't you just _not_ dye it? Saves the trouble."

"Because that would be giving in! I was on a mission of my own—to test the citizens of Zion. Do colors really matter? I understand the whole red pill, blue pill thing, but why did that have to become a simple of oppression? And—would people be able to see _me_ past the blue? Would they be able to talk to me and see me without the blue? I mean really, could they?"

She stopped for a moment and left Dessa hanging. "So…could they?" She asked.

"They did." Kineta answered, as if it were unimportant. "It's apparently my symbol now, so I stuck to it. Just ask Morpheus, he knows how it went down."

Kineta turned, and then felt around for a tower. She found it and pressed a button. It ejected a disc.

"Now, I know it looks low tech, but it's not. Trust me."

She turned back to them and held out the disc with one finger, waiting for someone to take it. Trinity did.

"I'm having this contest with a few dronies—those are the computer geeks trying to get to my level—and they think that their flash drive and whatever else they can tech out are better than what_ I_ can tech out! You just see what they come up with at the meeting."

"Thanks Kineta." Trinity said. "Take care."

…

They were in an elevator now, going to the last floor.

Dessa knew they were going to some kind of meeting, but it felt too ignorant to ask about what since no one was telling her, so she decided to wait and see. She felt like she was being dragged around the world today. This had to have something to do with her mission.

Trinity had wanted to say something about the meeting earlier, but no member of their organization was allowed to talk about anything that went on in their meetings. They would talk after, if need be.

"Everything you hear must be kept secret." Trinity told her.

Dessa nodded, having a lump in her throat at that moment. She felt her father's hand drop to his side as the doors opened to a huge room with a mass of people at the very end of it. They approached.

"Are we late?" Neo asked sarcastically.

"Do you have the disc?" Morpheus asked.

Trinity gave it to him.

"No. You're right on time." Morpheus said, taking the disk and placing it into a tower. "Dessa, we've been waiting for you to be ready to join us."

"So, who exactly are, 'we?'" Dessa asked, air-quoting "we."

"We are a secret organization, unknown to most including the council. We research _your_ purpose. We're secret so not to scare the public, It's popular speculation that no one knows exactly what your purpose is, but in reality, we know exactly what lies ahead."

Link was at the computer and took a flash drive from a young man, whom Dessa assumed was what Kineta called a "dronie." Digitalized pictures of earth came on a screen just behind Morpheus. The quality was more than decent for a converted flash drive.

Morpheus continued. "The only thing between us and the restoration of earth is the cloud cover around the world. According to them, the machines found the code a long time ago and hid it within the source so that they could make their control over the humans permanent."

The screen showed images of the clouds.

"That's extremely ironic." Dessa commented. Her parents smiled.

"Precisely. Moving on, of course you know about the patch of sky we have over Electroid. That was a direct reaction to part of the code being destroyed."

"…How did that happen?"

"Agent X, Agent Smith's new counterpart."

Neo spoke up. "She's unfamiliar with Agent Smith."

Morpheus nodded, knowing even with the loss of memory, that she probably still wasn't taught much about Smith. He nodded for Neo to explain.

So he did. "We were once counterparts in the Matrix. As long as I was around, he'd be around. Agents were created to keep the Matrix in order and to stop soldiers like us from taking their life force into the real world. Smith was the worst, especially after I deleted him the first time. He came back and wasn't connected to the Matrix system anymore. And he was hell bent on taking over everything in and out of the Matrix. The only thing in his way was me. In order to destroy him for good, I let him take me over so that the source was able to delete us both."

"But it didn't work. You'd be dead if it worked." Dessa was a bit confused; to her knowledge, she'd never heard this before.

"That's the miracle of machine technology. They can fix anything." Neo said, rather blatantly, ready to move on. He'd explain later.

"It did work." Morpheus continued. "But Smith was brought back by something no one expected."

"By what?"

"Not by what, by _who_. Smith had created a _human_ agent before Neo defeated him. This agent was able to override the source without anyone knowing. But by the time he got to Smith, he'd already been through the beginnings of the deletion process. Instead of just one Smith, the deletion process had torn him in two."

Link popped in another flash drive, and this program showed an animation of the deletion process. It was pretty thorough.

"They turned out to be opposites of each other; one was good, and one was bad. We don't know how it happened. Apparently, his good side was hidden deep down in his code and was able to separate itself from the majority of Smith's existence."

"Which was pure insanity." Neo said under his breath.

"So," Dessa started. "Agent X is the evil twin?"

"You could say that." Morpheus answered. "Now, Hyde, the name we've given to the human agent, was taken over by X and together, they created the Viruses. Smith then created another human agent to try and make himself equal to his rival." It was then when Morpheus turned and faced a figure in the shadows. Tomb really seemed to like it there.

After Tomb stepped forward and Dessa seemed to understand so far, Morpheus continued. "Smith tried to stop X on his own, but their battle ended up freezing both of them in a glitch. This means that they are both stuck in cyber space and frozen in time. After that, Hyde disappeared, and the Viruses, well, you know what they've done." Morpheus turned to Tomb again as if to confirm the authenticity of the retelling. Tomb nodded, knowing full well that he was lying. There was more to the story. Time would tell if he needed to speak it.

"But in order for them to have made the Viruses…" Dessa said, "…than…he was using Hyde to be in the real world. But—how did he get out without anyone knowing?"

Morpheus nodded. She was sharp. "Two theories. 1) The Viruses distracted us or made false code to cover it up. And 2) X could've made slaves out of us, like Smith had with Bane in the revolution."

"If he did that, then shouldn't we be looking for them?"

"We are. We have suspects." Morpheus answered. "But the only thing you have to worry about are your missions. You possess codes that the source had infused into Neo's code as The One. They have the power to destroy the cloud cover and to crack any code in the way of that. Neo cannot access those codes because it was not part of his purpose and the machines never expected him to surpass that purpose. Those codes have passed down to you. Only you can access them."

Link now put in Kineta's disk, which had amazing graphics and moving diagrams that showed the individual significance of said code. This made Dessa smile. She looked around at the dronies and knew Kineta had won. She wanted to be the one to tell her. Then she looked back at her parents, who were looking at the screen, intrigued with the code. Reality was still setting in for her. She had a journey ahead that was all mapped out for her, given that she made no mistakes. The pressure was unreal.


	9. The Mission

**A/N: All your recent reviews have really inspired me and I'm totally grateful, so thanx guys. Let the epic journey continue…**

Chapter 8: The Mission

Morpheus, Niobe, Neo, Trinity, Dessa, Clash and Tomb were jacked in for their first mission Research mission.

It was dark. The dim street lamps were the only source of light they had. As they moved in formation, Dessa remembered how in control she felt in the Matrix. It was…kind of comforting. The slight worry that had been plaguing her that entire day had now completely vanished as she scanned her surroundings. The memories of living on the streets in allies like this one were vaguely passing through her mind as she relaxed in its familiarity.

Her parents noticed this unknown change of confidence and were a bit relieved. This job required every bit of confidence they could get. No one had done anything like this before.

Victor's voice cracked over his headset. "Fuck that!"

"What is it, Victor?" Morpheus answered.

"Viruses, they're trying to jam my system."

"Working on it." Zak said, trying to combat their codes.

"Where are they?" Neo asked, calmly.

"Down two blocks." Zak answered, knowing that was all the information he needed.

Neo turned to Morpheus and Trinity. "I'll be right back. Keep moving." And with that, he was in the air.

It had just occurred to Dessa that she'd never tried to fly before, it had been too dangerous in the past. She almost started to follow him when her mother took her arm, waking her from her slight day dream. _Right, we're after Agents._

They turned a corner at Morpheus' lead, who was trying to contact Kineta. "Do you have the coordinates?"

"Well, I wouldn't be here if I didn't." She replied, making a sly entrance from inside the abandoned building they were right next to. Dessa hid her surprise, attempting to be as serious as the rest of the team, although Kineta was strangely being her witty self, And although she was dressed in black like the rest of them, although more modestly than her mother, she was understandably the only one not wearing sunglasses. And for the first time, Dessa saw Kineta's eyes just as animated as her personality.

"I thought I'd bring you there, just giving you the coordinates wouldn't be any fun." She explained to Morpheus.

"This isn't for fun."

"None of it ever is." She turned and entered the building again, implying they follow.

As Dessa was the last to enter the building, she caught a glimpse of her father returning to the group. She didn't wait for him, although she wanted to. He caught up to them in seconds.

"Morpheus." Neo said.

"Yes?"

"I think it'd be safer if Dessa and I go ahead. The Viruses are hot on our trail because of my manipulation of the Matrix. If we go, we can outrun them, than they won't bother with you."

"If they get too close we'll fight them together." Trinity said, her tone making it clear that she didn't want anyone splitting up, even if she knew her daughter was in the most capable of hands.

"There's too many of them, it'd be easier—"

"I don't care if it's easier—"

"Wow." Kineta said in a voice loud enough for only Morpheus to hear. "I don't think I've ever seen them fight before."

"It's a rare sight." He added. He turned back to the lovers' quarrel. "We're staying together. When we reach our destination, we can split up if any Viruses try to follow us."

Neo and Trinity nodded as if nothing had happened. Dessa found this dynamic familiar, remembering that they would sometimes have small arguments like this, but regroup fairly quickly without any hurt feelings. They were a perfect team in the Matrix and as parents.

They group reached the top of the building, revealing the entire city that was under them.

"We're jumping buildings guys, it's the fastest way." She looked to Neo. "For most of us."

They all kept following Kineta's lead until Neo stopped. Dessa hesitated, almost losing her balance on the edge of a building. Neo steadied her by taking her arm.

"They're here." He said. They kept moving. "Zak? Can you see the Viruses?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to block them, but it's not working. I can try to delete them, but they control this territory."

"Shit." Neo said as they caught up to the group. Trinity turned to him. "Their getting closer."

"Nope, they're here." Dessa said calmly, looking behind them. Nobody wasted time as they charged the Viruses.

Neo watched his daughter nonchalantly jump buildings while still fighting. It was obvious that she was trying to contain her anger against them, like he and Morpheus had instructed, but anger seemed to be winning that battle.

Trinity noticed this as well, meeting his eyes. She made her way to their daughter, Zak having successfully deleted the Viruses she was fighting.

As Dessa began to thrash her arms instead of aim them, she felt a hand push her away and saw her mother calmly take a gun out and shoot both Viruses in the head. Trinity turned and gripped Dessa's arm both in concern and for impact. "Relax." She said, almost forcefully.

Never before had her mother pushed her, even out of danger. She finally felt the importance of the mission with her mother's firm grip on her arm and her more than serious face only inches from her own. She nodded.

They split up to help the others. Dessa noticed Clash ram into a distant stone wall far from rest of the group, cornered by Viruses. She quickly went to her aid, grabbing the gun that Clash had dropped and expertly pulled the trigger four times. As the Viruses dropped to the ground, Clash got up, badly wounded.

"You should have Victor call." She told Clash.

Clash nodded, thanking her. After she was out of sight, Dessa felt a terrible pain coming from her head. _What the hell?_ She looked around, Viruses surrounded her. But what was this pain? It was the same pain she had endured so long ago it seemed. How did they still have this control over her? She felt the darkness, she knew it was coming. She fought it; she fought to stay awake.

A Virus held out a gun to her head and—there was a bright flash. She was surrounded by light, the atmosphere bearing a metallic sheen.

_Am I dead?_ Her surroundings were still the same, only hued in white. The Virus with the gun stood motionless, as did the others. Before she had a moment to think, someone grabbed her and they quickly walked down an empty alleyway. She looked at this person forcibly making her walk faster and was almost stunned. She had glowing silver eyes and a smug, frustrated look on her face.

"Keep on your toes, and don't ever go on your own again. I won't always be here to save your ass."

Dessa tried to keep her composure, but had no idea what to think.

"Your destination is straight ahead and you're two steps ahead of everyone. Run."

And with that, the white melted away from the Matrix and the air seemed to move again. She heard the Viruses in the distance and Silver's voice shouting, "Run!"

…

Neo found himself standing in a paused Matrix. He looked at his comrades and enemies, still as stone. While he was at it, he threw down the Virus fighting Trinity, just for fun. He'd never witnessed Silver's power before.

Time commenced once again. The white melted away and Trinity stood next to him, a little confused that her opponent was miraculously beaten down and that Neo was standing calmly next to her. "I'll explain later." He said as he flew into the sky.

He looked for the time-distorter as he scanned the area. He didn't find her, but he did find Dessa, far ahead of the group. He went to her.

Trinity knew that Neo was going after Dessa or he wouldn't have left. She pushed her confusion to the back of her mind, trusting that Neo's explanation would make sense, and continued to fight, blocking the Viruses from getting to her family.

…

Dessa pushed the doors open and ran inside, not looking back even when she sensed her father running behind her. They came up to a door, locked. Dessa was about to ram it down when Neo put his hand on her shoulder.

"Watch." He said. He went towards the door and walked straight through it. It wasn't something he normally did, he too preferred to ram things down, but Dessa needed to learn patients.

"Alright. How hard can that be." she said. She did just that and found Neo staring at what was before them. It was an orb of metallic light, much like the paused Matrix atmosphere. Dessa instinctively walked up to it. She felt all she had to do was touch it. She looked to her father, he nodded. She reached out and felt the code run through her arm and out her fingertips. Everything went white.

…

Dessa opened her eyes as if for the first time. _What just happened?_ The memories came slowly. Kineta, the fighting, Clash, the Viruses, Silver—_Silver._ Reality seemed distant and hazy as she remembered the pain the Viruses inflicted on her yet again. Her senses less acute and her muscles aching as she remembered Silver verbally kick her ass.

She could no longer analyze her surroundings; a transition she would have to get used to. She was out of breath and confused by many things, including her current response to breathing air. Had she really gotten that used to the real world to almost be killed in the Matrix? Was she so used to the Matrix that she almost felt sick in the real word? She didn't know what to think, she didn't even care what happened after she apparently passed out.

As soon as Victor unplugged her, she got up and headed towards her room without a word.

Trinity's instinct was to follow, but Neo took her arm in protest. "Give her a minute."

Trinity sighed in frustration, but understood. "How did you do it?" she asked.

"We found the frozen area of the Matrix. Dessa touched it and cracked the code…She passed out after that."

That last part only made Trinity more anxious. She tried in vain to escape Neo's grip, but he turned her back to him and took both her hands. They stood there for a moment, talking without words, something the crew members found fascinating. Neo finally turned to Zak and Victor. "What happened to the Agents?"

Zak answered. "Agent Smith was directed to the K-System and being briefed by ARIN as we speak."

"And Agent X?"

Zak hesitated, not knowing how to explain to the most powerful man in the Matrix. Victor didn't think twice. "We lost him."

Niobe came from behind him. "What?"

"What he means is," Zak tried to recover, "We tracked him. We couldn't catch him, but we tracked him."

"We're _lucky_ we got a track on him. He's _damn_ fast." Victor added, only to receive a upside smack on the back of head, courtesy of Niobe. "Ow!"

Looking in the direction Dessa left, Neo remembered something. "I think time stopped in there, but it didn't affect me."

"What?" Both Morpheus and Trinity said, almost simultaneously.

Neo continued. "Was Silver in there?"

"Was that what it was? That totally makes sense now." Victor said, this time receiving a smack from Zak.

"Yeah, Silver was there, but when time stops in the Matrix, the feed freezes, too. We didn't see much."

"I saw Dessa almost get beat. Silver must have stopped time to save her from a shot in the head." This time, Morpheus faked a smack and Victor ducked.

Neo didn't reply quickly, just stared at the ground. "They must have gotten to her. The Viruses." He looked into Trinity's eyes, truly worried.

…

Neo opened the door and slipped inside. He waited a quiet minute until he spoke. "I know you're not sleeping."

"And?" he heard Dessa's voice, muffled from hiding under her blanket.

"Can we talk?" he asked patiently, with only the smallest hint of concern.

"…" She turned her head towards him, contemplating what she should do. Saying nothing would only push him away, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She sat up and looked at him, knowing he meant well. "Yeah."

Neo sat next to her, wanting to put his arm around her, but restraining himself for the moment. "Mind telling me what happened in there?"

"You mean Silver?" she asked, knowing that he couldn't have missed that detail.

"I mean you. What's upsetting you?"

"…They…" she sighed. "They did something, maybe they had a code or something, I don't know. But they…" she didn't know how to put it. She didn't know if it was her own weakness that caused it or if they actually had that much power over her. She looked into her father's eyes and tried to continue. "I could feel them inside me. It was like they were trying to override me or something, like before."

Her voice was shaking, but she was fighting it and winning the battle. It broke Neo's heart to have her so conflicted and so strong. Of course strength was a good thing, but strangely in her case, it was devastating to watch; to see his daughter in such pain and fighting it so unlike a child. She was a child to him, the child he was suppose to protect and love. He didn't want her to grow up this fast; he didn't want her to have to be in danger.

She couldn't fight it any longer and retreated in his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder, his strong arms wrapped around her depleting frame.

"I should have been able to overcome them, dad. I've gotten stronger, but I was the same useless mess of code when they got to me."

"You have no control over that, we don't know what they're capable of." Neo said. It was a few moments Neo spoke again. "Stay out of the Matrix until we know what they were up to, Ok?"

Dessa found this request perfectly rational, but didn't want to comply. "What about the restoration?"

"We can hold off the last mission. You are _way_ more important than any old mission anyway."

Dessa could tell that he was smiling now.

"I'm sure the others will understand." Neo kissed her forehead and practically whispered, "I won't let them take you away again."


	10. Purpose

Chapter 9: Purpose

"I heard something." Silver said, pushing Magma away, breaking the kiss. Magma was obviously annoyed, but trusted her instincts. "I'm going to go check it out."

Magma let her go and watched her leave, too tired to even think of helping her. He looked at the clock. 4:00 am. His dad was going to be pissed. He smiled to himself, thinking of what his dad's face will look like when he tells him he was on a date with Silver. He'd need to have a camera ready.

…

Silver creeped through the room and approached the hallway. With her boots off, she was impossible to detect—for a human at least.

"Hello." Tomb said from just outside the open doorway.

Silver nearly fell over from surprise, trying to regain her composure as soon as she realized who it was.

"What the hell are you doing here, half-metal?"

"Waiting." He said, his eerily cryptic explanation giving her a chill down her spine.

"Care to explain what you're waiting for?"

Silence. Silver reasoned that he was probably working with Kineta or something, a secret invention maybe. Either way, she didn't care. "Don't trip on your way out." Is all she said.

Before she could turn around and leave him, Tomb tapped her forehead with his palm. A spark of electricity ran through both of them. She stood there, her mind racing as if she were a half-metal herself.

"Now you know, and now I'm done waiting." Tomb said, turning to walk off. As he left, an ever present chill resounding in his spine.

Silver remained standing there for a moment, stunned. With that one touch, she had regained what she had lost when leaving the Matrix three years ago, without knowing she'd lost anything at all.

…

Dessa sat up in her bed and was leaning against the wall, trying to fall asleep in that position. She couldn't clear her mind of that day, even after she'd talked to her parents. All she wanted was to let go, but she knew she couldn't. This new role in life was bigger than she'd ever imagined; more important than she'd ever imagined. It haunted her now like nothing else.

Her father had told her of his sleepless nights, as well as his worshippers, and that she might go through similar trials herself. She didn't want this. Maybe she never did. What made her father so selfless? What made him except his power and place so easily? Or was it as hard for him? She had never asked for his entire story, but was always told of his humble nature and how it was his best quality. She didn't want to care about what other people thought of her, but now, she couldn't escape wondering, and this wondering was the thing keeping her up. If only she could get some damned sleep, then maybe she'd feel better in the morning.

After a few more silent sleepless minutes, she got up and got dressed. She walked out, heading towards the system where she hoped to find Silver. She didn't care to be quiet; she didn't care if her parents caught her, she'd leave anyway. Fortunately, there was no sign of them. She didn't look back until she was down stairs at a safe distance. She knew they had to have noticed, and half of her wanted them to call her back, unknowing of exactly why. She shook her head once she didn't see either of her parents in the window, knowing she couldn't go back until she got answers.

Trinity waited until Dessa's back was to the apartment to lean forward and make herself visible through the window. Neo appeared behind her, already knowing what she was thinking.

"We'll be here for her when she comes back." Neo said.

"But where is she going?" Trinity asked, still looking after their daughter, growing smaller in the distance.

"…Trying to make sense out of life." he replied, solemnly. "I can imagine it's harder for her. She's so much younger than I was."

Trinity slowly turned to him after their daughter's figure disappeared into the night. They embraced tightly for a long moment, stopping time from moving any further. Neo's breath was like velvet on her neck as he spoke softly. "You made my life so much easier. There was nothing complicated about us. There was no question that I'd choose you over Zion."

It was true; a secret they would keep between them. There was no contest, even when the entire human race was at stake. It was something they both felt.

Trinity pulled away slightly to look into Neo's deep brown eyes. "She has us."

"But she's conflicted." Neo added. "She's only 14 and she's never had this kind of responsibility. She's probably struggling to find out who she really is. If I had known about my legacy and my powers at her age, I probably never would have left the Matrix. Life would've been easier and…responsibility for the entire human race, it's a…saying it's a commitment would be putting it lightly."

Trinity knew that Dessa was at war with herself and wanted to talk to her about it, but because they still didn't know exactly what went on when Dessa lived by herself, they still had no way to truly try and understand her.

Neo sighed. "She has us, but without knowing herself…" Neo wasn't exactly sure how to end that sentence without sounding terribly depressing.

"So," Trinity started, "she's traumatized, still adapting to real life, and conflicted." She sighed. "What do we do?"

"Love her. It's all we can do."

…

To Dessa's surprise, it didn't take long to find the room Silver and Magma had taken her to just a day before. No one was in sight, but the monitors were still on. Were they always on, or was someone here earlier? She didn't care, but as long as she was there, she might as well sort some data. She sat at a computer, but as soon as she reached for the keyboard, it disappeared into the wall. A face appeared on the monitor; a young person with gray hair who wore nice clothes like no one else she'd seen on Zion or Electroid. She couldn't tell what gender this person was, and had a suspicion that whoever it was, they were from the Matrix.

"Oh, Chosen One, hello. What brings you here at such a strange hour?"

Dessa hesitated. "And you are?"

The program blushed. "Oh, my name is ARIN. Androgynous Rationalized Information Navigator. I am a crucial part of the storing of data in the K-System."

"Uh-huh. Nice to meet you." Dessa said, a bit curious. "Is there a reason you're 'androgynous?'"

"Personal reasons. I prefer neither sex."

"Interesting, never heard that one before. And what exactly do you do?"

"I supervise. I make sure no Viruses get here. So far, since my promotion, I've been successful. I also carry the Researcher's data. They can't save it normally, or else just about anyone could find it. Its kept safe with me."

Just then, a figure came from an automatic door that Dessa had never noticed before. The door lead to a down stairs room by the looks of the stairs. The figure walked towards them, and although it was too dark to see who it was, Dessa could tell by her robust frame. It was Silver.

"Hey." Silver said, a bit surprised that Dessa was sitting in her chair. Her last encounter with Tomb made her remember her mission. She would see this through, no matter how bad she felt about…everything.

"Good evening, Silver. I almost forgot you were down there. Is Magma still with you? I didn't see him leave."

Silver was thankful that the darkness hid her would-be blush. "Yes, we were just taking a break." She sat down next to Dessa. "We didn't realize that we'd been talking for so long."

Dessa could see through her lie, but didn't care to accuse her of anything.

Somehow, ARIN noticed the tension between the two and decided to power down. It turned the lights on so that they weren't completely in the dark before she turned the computer monitor off.

There was a small silence before either of them spoke.

"Magma told me you hated the Matrix." Dessa broke the silence.

"Yeah, I do." Silver said, dryly.

"Then why were you there?" her tone was demanding and hoarse.

"Did you not see me save your ass? You needed help."

"…You went in there for me? Not for the credit of saving me?"

"No one has to know. And I don't want anyone to. You might be The One, but even Neo needed to be saved once or twice."

Silence.

"Researches hit you pretty hard, huh?" Silver said.

"…How do you know about that?"

"I'm a member, don't worry. I know everything. It was me and my dad's team that navigated your mission."

"Hmph. Well, I sure feel the pressure. Probably what's keeping me up. It's weird. In the Matrix, I could sleep through anything. But now…I don't know. I felt powerful in the Matrix, no restraints, no pressure—"

"No responsibility."

"Yeah. I just wish I could tell my parents that, but I have a bad feeling…it'd upset them. I feel like sometimes, if I say what's really on my mind, or tell them the whole truth about some things, it'd be all bad." For some reason, Dessa felt perfectly at ease with Silver. She had a new respect for her. She would confide in her.

"What truths aren't you telling them?"

"Some things I did in the Matrix mostly. I was bad. Living on the streets with god like powers, it was easier than anything to steal things, mostly cars and food. I got away with everything. I even messed with some gangs, stopping bullets. Hehe, that was always fun."

There was some silence while Dessa remembered Silver earlier that day, in the Matrix.

"Only 14?"

Dessa nodded. "How old are you?"

"Almost 19."

Dessa nodded again. It was a moment until Silver spoke.

"The real world is gonna kick your ass if you don't let go of what happened in the Matrix. Those memories might be real, but it doesn't matter anymore. It seems like everyone from the Matrix has to learn it the hard way if they don't already want to forget everything, which was my case."

"So, what, you just, forget?"

"It's not that simple, but at the same time, it is. You've got a problem, I didn't. You lived in a world where you belonged. Then, you came to a world where you have a huge job to do. Your parents raised you and were waiting for you on the other side. No one, even if they had loving parents sees them on the other side."

Dessa stared, almost in awe of this information. Why would Silver of all people be telling her about her own life, especially things she had never contemplated herself?

She continued. "You had shoes to fill, expectations to meet. It's harder not to think of the past when the future is filled with shit like that. I had it a little easier. My power was new and I was unknown, but everybody out here knew your name before you were even born. That's tough."

Dessa didn't realize how wise Silver actually was until now. "But how did you let go?."

"Easy, found what I wanted to live for. You just have to decide."

Silence.

Silver fidgeted in her chair, thoughts coming into her head that had never left her mouth before. She also needed someone to confide in. "The real world is everything I've ever dreamt about—and everything I've ever dreaded. We're lucky we have families, Roamer. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to live here."

Dessa hesitated. "Captain Crater, he saved you?"

"Yeah, but, it was a lot more than that. You know about it, don't you? How he rebelled against the _council_?"

She nodded again.

"He said…he said I deserved to be free. We'd been talking before then. He just wasn't fast enough to save me a couple times, but he didn't give up. That's what I love about him."

"Hey, I'm glad one of us got out before the feed crashed."

Silver looked into Dessa's eyes, both realizing that they'd judged one another immensely in the beginning. They both silently agreed to start over.

"Your parents, you should tell them everything."

"What?"

"You don't know how much they missed you. You don't know how much they want to protect you and hear your voice. I know me just telling you about it won't really make you understand—"

"It will. Please tell me." Dessa had never been told anything like this before, even from her parents.

Silver nodded. "I personally thought that it would break them up, you being stuck in the Matrix. But…I actually think that it brought them closer together. It was so stressful, they didn't come out of their apartment for days at a time sometimes. I wondered what would happen to them if they could never find you. I wondered a lot about them."

She paused to think and looked away. "They were like my heroes, you know? They died for us all, they didn't even ask to be revived, but they were. I know it was because of the new prophecy, but…damn, it's just too complicated. Just tell them everything, Ok? And don't be ashamed to cry. You've got to be open to them."

Dessa took in her words, truly regarding them.

"You know, Roamer, when I heard they finally got to you, I was…nervous."

"Nervous?"

"Yeah. I was convinced that you would be either a wounded puppy type girl, or a stuck up bitch. Either way, I was going to screw with your head."

"Why?"

"To give you an obstacle. If you got past me, then you'd be that much stronger. You're welcome."

"Hmph, well thanks, I guess."

They sat in contentment, then a question suddenly came up.

"Hey, do you remember when we first met?"

Silver laughed. "Yeah."

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know, you just made it sound like we were a couple there, reminiscing the first day we met!"

Silver's laugh was oddly infectious, and Dessa couldn't help herself. "I was being serious. Anyway, you know your ring?"

Silver took it from her finger and played with it. "Yeah, what about it?"

"It's not, like, magnetized to you or anything, is it?"

Silver cracked a smile. "No, Roamer, I just really don't want to lose it. Dad gave this to me, said he made it for a girl he knew once, but she died in the revolution."

Dessa hesitated. "Wow, that's…sad."

"His whole life's sad, that's why he spoils me."

Dessa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know how _that _is."

"Oh, no you don't. Neo and Trinity have no match against _my_ dad when it comes to this…"

…

Magma was down stairs, waiting for Silver to come back. It'd been a while, so he made his way up stairs and unexpectedly heard talking. Who was she talking to? He pressed his ear against the door and then heard laughing. Laughing? And was that Dessa's voice? He thought it had to be. He sat down at the top of the stairs, listening to the muffled voices. He couldn't tell what they were saying, but their tone of voice is what soothed him. Silver was finally easing up. He knew she come around.

**So, yes! We've finally reached the turning point! Sorry if my being extremely cryptic with the mystery bothers you. It'll all make sense soon enough. **


	11. One Handed Ambush

Chapter 10: One Handed Ambush

Kineta was working hard at her usual station, rendering code while…"instant messaging" her young crew members. She didn't know why they were all up at such an ungodly hour, but then again, why was she?

ARIN came back on screen relaying a message. "Silver says you're a dirty rotten liar."

"Am not. Morpheus was the player back in my day." After a pause, "Was that _really_ what she said?"

ARIN looked guilty. "Ok, I might have censored her language. A lot."

Kineta laughed. "Ok, Ok. Look, I don't really care what the hell Silver and Magma are up to, just tell Dessa to go home. I bet you her parents know she's gone."

"Will that be all?" ARIN asked.

Kineta grunted her response, yet again consumed in her work. ARIN disappeared from the screen.

…

ARIN zipped through the cyber hallways as fast as it could. Being the messenger was its favorite thing to do at this hour because of the ridiculous things these humans liked to talk about.

As ARIN got to the last hallway, it spied something in the distance blocking its way. Before ARIN knew it, it was up against the wall feeling its life-force being ripped from its mother board. Darkness clouded its vision as it tried to fight this massive power. It wasn't a Virus; Viruses didn't have this kind of control. ARIN would have sensed a Virus. It was something much worse.

With its last will, ARIN sent a message to Smith, warning him that something was trying to override it, perhaps the entire system. Hopefully, Smith would stay away and not risk this same fate.

…

"What's taking that program so long?" Silver asked, her legs crossed on a computer tower.

"Maybe Kineta's message is more like a lecture." Dessa answered.

Silver shrugged, and then yawned. "Whatever."

Dessa felt a yawn coming. "Maybe I should—" a stray code on the monitor caught her eye. "Hold up…" she said, typing in the render code that Silver had just taught her. When she was done, a digital rendering appeared as a hologram before them.

It was a silver plated trumpet. Silver caught the gag.

"Cute." She said. "So, what is it?"

"Don't tell me you've never seen a trumpet before. You _have_ to have seen one in the Matrix."

"I probably have, but I didn't have what you'd call the 'average childhood.' Anyway, those memories are fuzzy. Now what's it do?"

"Makes music, like every instrument." Dessa swiped her hand through the hologram and it faded back into code. "Anyway," she said, closing the program, "it's getting late."

"It's getting early. Like three in the morning early."

"Shit. I should get home before dad notices I'm gone."

"How's he gonna know? Does he check on you or something?"

"Bingo."

"Wow." After a pause in thought, "That's actually not creepy at all."

"Yeah, it's kind of comforting."

"You know what my dad used to do?"

"What?"

…

In the back of her mind, Kineta was wondering what was taking ARIN so long. Maybe they all went home or something and ARIN shut down. But that was the least of her worries.

Kineta's highly trained eyes spotted a miniscule, diminutive, hardly noticeable gap in the code. To anyone else, it would've looked normal. Kineta then found patterns that didn't belong in the storage system. She typed away and scanned a diagnosis. It reported nothing wrong.

"Damned technology's useless." She mumbled. She got up and made the screens black in order to see better. She didn't know exactly what was coming, but she knew it wasn't nice. She went to the radio transmitter and tried to send a signal, but it crashed.

"Shit." She knew something was up. Whatever it was, it must have gotten to ARIN first. In this flurry of thought, she didn't know what to do first, warn the kids or try and save the storage…

"Volt! Get up here!" She yelled, knowing her was still in the system. He never really left her side unless he was out doing errands. She would make sure he stayed out of this.

"Mom?" he said, jogging up the stairs.

"I need you to go and tell whoever is here to leave."

"Why?"

"Commander's orders, got it?"

Volt hesitated, unsure of what she was on the brink of freaking out about. "Yes, mom." And he was gone.

Kineta immediately set the codes back online. It was worse. As she looked back and forth from screen to screen, se=he could tell exactly what was going on. Agent X.

She heard it. Whatever it was materializing in the back room. _Shit._ _It took over ARIN…he could probably destroy the data from the inside, why would he want to materialize himself? _Then it hit her.

_To kill the fuckin' One!_

Kineta ran through a long hallway of screens. She threw open a metal door and took out what looked like a giant tazer. She wrapped the strap around her shoulder and heard heavy footsteps against the metal floor. Agent X had no doubt taken ARIN over and made it into a materialized killing machine. That much she could tell from hearing its ravenous breathing from behind her. She turned quickly and saw it lung at her.

…

Volt stepped out into the hallways only to run into someone. It was Tomb.

"Mom said—" Volt began.

"I know what she said. Hurry up, she's going to need my help."

With that, Tomb, pushed the young boy away and entered the chamber.

…

"Did you really mean it? When you said I didn't have a purpose?" Dessa asked.

"Did I say that?"

"Yeah. You said I was born for nothing."

"Oh yeah. Roamer, I say a lot of things. Forget about it."

Oddly, they heard a small voice yelling through the hallways and feet stomping an echo across the metal hallways. Silver got up and poked her head out of the open door and saw Volt. When he saw her, he stopped.

"Volt, what's the matter?" she asked.

"Mom told me to evacuate the system." He said, out of breath.

"Evacuate? Why? She could have used the alarm."

"I tried that, it doesn't work."

"What is it, a fire?"

"I don't know, but she wasn't telling and it scared me."

Silber had no idea what was happening, but she knew Kineta didn't mess around. "Alright, Roamer, let's get you the hell out of—"

Just then, the floors started shaking.

"What the hell? An earthquake?" Silver raised her voice over the machinery clanking together. "Get out of here, Volt! Go!"

And he ran as quickly and consistently as he could.

Silver looked back and saw Dessa open the automatic door. Magma had been leaning against it and plopped down on the floor, asleep. The collision of his skull to the floor woke him, confused. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know." Dessa answered.

Silver came from behind. "Let's move people!"

Magma went ahead, acting as a shield. They entered the hallway, and with difficultly, tried to run. One of the segments of floor ripped away from its attachments and sent Magma falling through. He grasped the end of the segment, still hanging on by on bolt. The floors underneath him were of the same weakness, so if he fell, he'd most likely fall through the entire system.

"Magma!" Silver knelt down to help him up before he yelled at her to keep going.

"I'll be fine!"

"No you won't!" Silver argued.

"Don't start this, keep moving! Get Dessa to safety! She's more important than I am!"

Silver stared at him, and with difficulty, left with Dessa. In the back of her mind she wanted to scream at him and say, "You're more important to _me_!"

…

Kineta lay on her side, blood seeping out of her chest wound; her heart failing to keep her awake. She couldn't see anything clearly. The monster had ripped apart the screens and destroyed the balance beams that held apart the system before she destroyed it for good.

Her eyes closed as she felt the darkness seep into her, her senses immune to the rattling and shaking. Her world went black.

…

Neo and Trinity started to worry about Dessa, and they had a hunch where she would be. It took a while for them to agree to go and see if she was in the system, Neo wanting to wait while Trinity wanted just the opposite.

They were walking slowly and close together, admiring the night, when they heard rattling. They looked at each other in confusion and then heard running. They soon recognized Volt in the distance, looking as if he was running for his life. When he stopped, he bent down, his hands gripping his knees, breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath.

"Volt, what is it?" Trinity asked, very concerned.

He tried answering evenly. "The system…*huff*…its coming…*puff*…down. Its shaking its…*huff*…like an earthquake! Dessa was in there…*puff*…they should have been following me out."

Alarm struck the two as if they were being shot at.

"Go tell system control!" Neo said to Volt before the two parents bolted for the main entrance. When they saw what was happening, they couldn't hide their terror. The main station was coming down; they could hear parts of it crash down into the crater just below it. If the whole thing collapsed, it would be a miracle to survive it.

Trinity started to run in, but Neo held her back. "Go get Crater and Kid. There's no doubt Silver and Magma are in there too."

"I can't just let you go in there alone." Trinity replied angrily.

"And I can't let you go in there at all." He simply added, looking directly into her eyes.

Trinity knew there was no point in arguing and that they were losing time. She lunged at him and kissed him quickly, ripping away from his grip and running in the direction of Kid's apartment. Neo turned and ran into the mess of shuddering metal.

…

A wall crimped and broke away from its hinges, blocking the girls' way.

"Fuck!" Silver cursed. She shot her head to the side into a lab the wall had once shielded. "This way!"

Dessa was obediently being guided through the system, staying close to Silver. Things were falling and threatening to wound them more frequently now. Apparently, they'd entered a conference room, and there were screens everywhere.

Silver found the door and tried open it, but it was jammed shut. She grunted in frustration. "God damn it." She said under her breath. She looked over passed Dessa and tried to think their way out of this. Suddenly, a giant screen caught her eye as it made its way towards Dessa. Without thinking, she pushed her to the side and took the blow.

"Silver!" Dessa screamed.

The debris covered her entire body accept her head and right arm. She knelt down beside her.

"Silver, what the hell?" was all she could think to say.

Silver winced in pain, but managed a smile. "Guess I really won't be here to save your ass anymore."

"Shit Silver, don't say that! I'll get you out!" Dessa tried to take Silver's arm and pull her out, but the stream of blood coming from under her stopped her completely. Silver let go of Dessa's hand, slipping her ring off in the process.

"Give that to dad, won't you?" She sounded weaker. "Tell him I don't regret anything."

"Silver…" Dessa fought back tears.

"Didn't I say it was Ok to cry?"

Dessa ignored the shaking and destruction around her as she saw the life pass through Silver's eyes. Her last words were mumbled, but strangely clear, as Dessa could hear nothing else.

"Purpose…so that's what this is…"

She watched as that ruthless, fearless flame in her eyes finally died with her.

…

Neo paced himself as he ran through the diminishing hallways. He was used to this much pressure from the Matrix, so his searching strategies hadn't yet failed him. He heard a voice cry something, a name maybe, he couldn't tell. He followed that voice and there she was, kneeling in front of a broken monitor, a body underneath it.

"Dessa!" He yelled out. She looked back at him, tears rolling down her face. He ran to her as she got up and met him half way. He took her hand and they started running back from where he came from.

"Who was that?" Neo asked, fear in his voice.

"Silver…" Dessa said, now trying to hold back the tears.

_Shit. _Neo thought. He had questions, but now was not nearly the time to answer.

A broken part of a wall, having been stretched out, struck Neo in the leg. It felt like being hit with a baseball bat at a hundred miles per hour. He tripped and fell, the floor collapsing under him. Dessa held on and braced herself, keeping him from falling through. He felt a giant pain in his leg, but ignored it as his adrenaline killed in and Dessa pulled him up. They kept running.

The floor was less stable now, daring to do just what it had done to Magma, whom Dessa had no idea was alive or not. They reached the main exit and realized that the system was tipping over, moving away from the level ground. Without much hesitation, Neo jumped, Dessa flowing suit. They were inches short from making a clean landing, both gripping the side of the crater's edge. Dessa slipped, and Neo caught her with one hand, hanging by only four fingers.

He felt his arm being taken by strong hands and they were lifted back onto the safe ground. Trinity went straight to Dessa, hugging her as she cried, head buried in her mother's chest. He looked up and saw Crater and Kid kneel down to his level. Crater was still staring at the system, crashing down before them. His face was unreadable. Kid knew Magma was in there, but couldn't bear to look at the destruction. Instead, he worried himself with Neo. His leg was twisted in a horrifyingly painful looking position.

"Your leg looks bad." Kid said, trying to touch it, causing Neo to wince in pain. Trinity noticed this, looking up at him.

"It's broken." Neo managed to say.

"Broken? When'd it break? When you jumped?" Kid asked, hurriedly for some reason.

"No, before that."

That seemed to wake Crater up. "You mean, you jumped that distance with a broken leg?"

"…Yeah." Neo said, still very much in pain.

They sat there for a while, people starting to crowd around. Crater went to get an ambulance, trying to convince himself that his precious daughter was still alive.


	12. Reorganization

Chapter 11: Reorganization

Neo watched as the medic carefully dressed his wound. Neo was half listening as the medic went on and on about how remarkable he thought it was that Neo was able to jump to safety with a broken leg. That's what adrenaline does for the body, he kept repeating. Neo agreed, his body kicked it into high gear to survive, but he couldn't have done it without Dessa by his side. It was his will to protect her that made him keep going, not himself.

After the medic left, Trinity sat as close to him as she possibly could. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly, a wordless thank you for saving their daughter. He put his arms around her waist, her touch distracting him from the pain emanating from his leg.

They stayed like that for a few moments, both with growing concern for the event that had just taken place. They pulled away and looked at each other, Trinity's hands possessively cupping Neo's face. He broke the gaze by shifting his eyes just behind her. Trinity knew he was waiting for Dessa. She'd been taken to talk about the incident for investigation.

Neo stared in that same direction as he spoke. "When I found her, she was with Silver."

This alarmed Trinity and only made her believe that the worst had actually happened. She didn't know Silver personally, but she did know Crater. She knew how much he loved her. It was a love that sometimes made her jealous while Dessa was still stuck in the Matrix, but a love she was glad one of them had nonetheless. She listened intently.

"I didn't get close enough to see her, but…" Neo trailed off, remembering the devastated look on Dessa's face. "She saved Dessa's life. I know that much." His voice grew quieter in realization that Silver had saved their daughter more than once now, this time with her life.

"They sent a search party." Trinity said, having gotten the information when Neo was brought to the ER. "We don't know what's happened to the storage, but Smith confirmed he'd moved himself to another section, so we didn't lose everything."

Neo knew Trinity was trying to lift the mood by talking about something neither of them cared about at the moment, but he didn't look back at her. Instead , he stared intently at the small framed person who'd just appeared in the doorway.

Trinity turned, getting up and taking her daughter's hands in comfort. Dessa's head hung slightly, her expression not quite blank, but close enough. Her thoughts were running wild with everything Silver had told her that night. _Tell them everything. Let go of the Matrix. Find what you want to live for. _

_It's Ok to cry._

_Damn it. _Dessa thought. _I don't want to cry._

So she fought the tears and kept quiet. She would tell them everything later. Then she felt the ring she had warily put on her middle finger. She looked up, a sudden determination hinted in her voice.

"Where's Crater? I have to give him something."

…

The search party came back with five people. Some were very badly wounded, and some only scratched and bruised. Kid and Crater waited intently.

This time, only Kid was blessed with good fortune.

Magma was weak, but Kid came running. He embraced his son in pure joy. Had couldn't believe he'd survived, it was a true miracle. He felt his son hug back, burying his face in his chest, happy to be alive.

In that moment, Kid felt a heavy guilt form in the pit of his stomach. Silver wasn't coming back, he knew. Silver was dead. She had been all Magma ever cared about. In the past, Kid had resented her for ignoring his son while simultaneously stealing him away from ever moving on with someone else. But now, all he could feel was remorse. His son was happy with her, and now she was gone. He worried.

Magma lifted his head and smiled. A sad smile that only made Kid feel like a terrible father for having disliked Silver. Magma sensed something was wrong. He glanced at Crater, pulling away from his father's embrace.

Crater stared at the boy, the eighteen year old heart throb that many girls his age called him. He knew Silver had loved this boy. And as much as Crater didn't want to admit what the search party had confirmed, they both had to.

Crater shook his head. Magma's eyes widened. He was frozen until he saw Dessa walk towards them. He stared at her, knowing exactly what must have happened. _That selfless bitch! That kindhearted, fearless whore! Why did she have to…_He knew exactly why she had to. He would've done the same, honestly. But why…why now? Why now when they'd finally confessed their feelings for one another?

_I love you. I'll never leave you._

_I've always loved you._

"Why…" He whispered. He was happy Dessa was alive, but was in no mood to show it. He walked off, Kid following him.

Crater turned to Dessa, a bit confused as to why she was confronting him. Maybe to tell him about Silver.

"Captain," she started, trying to make eye contact with him. Before he knew it, she held out her hand to him, his silver ring glinting in the sunrise.

He took it and looked it over for no particular reason. Silver had religiously wore this ever since her gave it to her. It had belonged to her, his now dead treasure.

"She saved my life. Again." Dessa said, looking down. She didn't have the urge to cry any longer, but she felt terrible for Crater. She could imagine her own father in this situation. Tragedy. "We'd been talking all night. She taught me a lot of things. About the system and about life."

She lifted her eyes to his gaze now, confidently. This confidence instilled pride in Crater. His daughter had been good. She may have been rough around the edges, but deep down, she was just as dedicated to the prophecy as he was.

He took Dessa's shoulder in pride as well. He was overjoyed that Silver had helped the One become so strong. He glanced at the ring he still clenched in his free hand. He didn't need it. He had had three long years with Silver. His memories were enough.

Dessa was surprised to find Crater taking her hand and placing the ring back into her palm.

"I want you to have it." He said simply.

Dessa smiled a warm smile. And then she remembered. "Silver said to tell you that she didn't regret anything. I'm not sure what it means, maybe you do?"

Crater nodded in perfect understanding. She wanted him to know that she had sacrificed herself willingly and without regret. "I understand."

…

Trinity swung the door open in slight fury, hesitating to close it. She was contemplating on whether to slam it or not, but seeing Dessa asleep in Neo's arms from the corner of her eye, she took a deep breath and gently closed it.

Neo's back was to the door, but he could sense her rage a mile away.

"What happened?" He said in a relatively quiet, yet concerned voice as she came near.

"The small minded—sons of bitches—" she stammered.

"Trin." He said, wanting her to quiet down.

She understood the reason for his plea and sat on the ground next to the couch. "People are blaming Dessa for the collapse."

"What people?"

"The giant mob surrounding what used to be the K-System." Mentioning the system almost made her sick, remembering that Kineta had been found horribly wounded.

Neo tried to carry on the conversation to ease her mind. "Mob mentality is a hard thing to escape. Once the real reports come out, they'll come to their senses."

Trinity looked at Neo, and then at Dessa. "I just hate her name being cursed at, questioned even."

Neo understood Trinity like no one else. Of course he hated the fact that people doubted their daughter, but he couldn't hate them personally. He'd learned to humbly accept people's doubts; they all had reason, but he never let it get to him. He hoped Dessa could learn the same thing. And quickly.

"Let's just…wait it out." Neo said, reaching for Trinity with his free hand. She took it and interlaced their fingers like she'd done millions of times before.

When the Oracle had told her she'd fall in love with the One, she couldn't stop but to wonder what it'd be like. To be in love. It sounded impossible, for her at least. She'd never truly grasped what it meant until she saw him in person, then she was unwavering. She knew it meant and she would never let go. It just clicked for her, and it felt perfect, although she was afraid. It didn't click for him, or, did it? She'd never asked. But at the time, The Oracle never said that he would love her back. That fact haunted her until the moment he died.

Before she met him though, long term couples had never made sense to her. They were always together; always holding hands, too. She thought something like that would get old. She tried to imagine what it would be like to love someone so much that you wanted to be with them every second of the day. And hold hands. What was the point? Before she met Neo, she had no answer to that question. Now she did. It was a special connection, she didn't know exactly why, but it was comforting beyond anything else. He was comfort when there was none—love when there was none—among many other things that kept her in perfect balance, and right now, she needed that balance.

"So, um…" Neo said, fairly quietly. "What was the outcome?"

"There were, I think, 31 people in the system when it started to collapse. Thank God it was at night or hundreds of people would've been killed." Trinity said this in a hush voice. "There were only fourteen deaths."

"Almost half."

They were both now thinking of that night. The only people they knew in the collapse were Kineta and the kids.

Neo looked to the floor, then at Dessa. She had cried herself to sleep while Trinity was gone, of course, he wouldn't tell her that. They were soft sobs, simple tears. She fell asleep quickly in his lap; she'd been up most the night. He was glad she wasn't having nightmares, or at least, she wasn't showing it. Nightmares—he knew they would either be coming soon or not come at all. His nightmares came when the prophecy was close to being fulfilled, but maybe it wasn't the same for her. He could only wonder.

"If she starts getting nightmares…" Neo began, getting Trinity's undivided attention, "should we be grateful, or worried?"

"Nightmares? I guess it depends on what they're about." She paused. "Like…the nightmares you had? About me?"

He nodded

…

Her dream was a memory. It was before her parents had left, but she wasn't with them. She was alone. Everything felt familiar.

_A mysterious man came up to her, A Virus, but she didn't know that at the time. He tried to grab her, but another man came from behind and threw him down to the ground, knocking him out. Dessa stared at this man, but was tapped on the shoulder by someone more her age. He held out his hand, the smaller dream-version of Dessa not understanding. "Come with me." he said quickly, taking her hand and running from the swarm of apparent bad guys._

It came to her that she'd been separated from her parents, but she didn't remember past that.

This boy looked achingly familiar. The way his messy black hair covered his eyes. The way he only spoke when necessary. Wait—could it be…she'd met Tomb before?

_They got to a busy side of the street and Dessa spotted her parents in search for her. She looked back at Tomb and the man that had caught up to them._

He looked familiar too…but he wasn't human. Could it be, Agent Smith?

"Roamer, wake up already!"

Dessa heard a familiar voice ringing through her head. She felt weightless. She knew this wasn't reality, but not a dream either.

She opened her eyes and was face down on a metal floor. She lifted her head and saw her reflection in a pair of steel toed boots.

"I've got a few things to tell you, Roamer, so listen up."


	13. And So it Begins

**A/N: As a reminder to readers, I changed most of the beginning in my rewriting frenzy, so if you're starting here, the plot might make more sense if you go and re-read the beginning.**

Chapter 12: And So it Begins

"Silver…" Dessa said as she slowly stood. They were in a white control room, Dessa didn't understand, but knew that this wasn't real.

"I don't have much time." Silver said.

"Are we in the Matrix?" Dessa asked, looking around, not able to scan her surroundings, but knowing the familiarity of the illusion.

"Yes, but I can't tell you why. Not now. I'm here to tell you about Tomb…and about me."

Dessa nodded for her to continue, having questions, but knowing to listen.

"Tomb was first created to protect _you_. Once Smith was frozen in cyber space, he forced his objective to change. He needed to find Hyde, who had escaped into the real world. He passed his first objective to me, making me part program. He was the one who gave me the power to stop time."

"Ok." Dessa felt unnaturally calm, like her mother in the Matrix. She liked the feeling. "But, were you aware of your objective?"

Silver smiled. "You catch on fast. Yes and no, I was aware at a subconscious level, I did my job the best I could until I met Crater. Tomb didn't realize he'd failed to make me a true program until I met him in the real world. He hid the truth this long, but made me remember just before you showed up at the lab last night."

Dessa took a moment to process the information. "So the Researchers don't know."

"No, they don't. You, me, and Tomb are the only ones. You have to find him, he's after Hyde. Smith can help you with tracking him. You find Tomb, you find Hyde. You find Hyde, you find X."

Dessa nodded in understanding. "And so it begins."

…

Magma held the knife close to his face, examining it for no specific purpose. He ignored the knocking on his door; the muffled voice of his concerned father behind it.

What did his life mean now that Silver was gone? He had no will to learn to love again. Did his life even matter? Was he a vital part of Earth's restoration? No…no he wasn't. Did his presence have any significance for humanity? No…it didn't. With Silver, he felt he could be someone; he felt he could make a difference, even if that difference was nothing but to melt the ice that surrounded her heart. And he felt…he felt that he had just reached that purpose. It was peace with her, and now his peace was gone. She could never grace his life—his small, pointless life—ever again.

He felt the tip of the blade with his middle finger, pressing hard enough to draw blood. He invited the pain, Silver had probably endured worse. The knocking grew into pounding, the pounding into ramming.

He was miraculously unharmed. Why? Why was he spared? If there was a God, Magma was convinced he was being punished. He was in no mood to look at the bright side, although he knew there was one. If God really had a plan, then maybe he was needed; maybe he was significant…but the thought was lost in a moment; it drowned in the flooding sorrow taking over his being.

He slowly drew the knife down his forearm, waiting for it to reach his wrist. Just as it reached mid-arm, Kid burst into his room, the door breaking away from its hinges. He ran to Magma, took the knife and threw it across the room. He stood, staring at his bleeding son, stunned. Hurt. He ran out, quickly returning with a first aid kit and kneeling down to his son. Magma averted his tear glazed eyes.

"Have I failed you?" Kid finally said. It came out choked, but strong. He was holding back tears.

Magma slowly shook his head. "No, I failed her."

Kid knew that there was nothing he could say or do to change his son's mind, but he had to say something to make him understand. "Don't lose hope for life." He paused in his cleansing Magma's arm to try and find the right words. "You're my only son. As much as you didn't want to lose Silver, I don't want to lose you." He said this with much strength in his voice, which made Magma look into his eyes. They stared for a moment. He understood, and could no longer fight the tears from the pain he had self inflicted.

…

Neo was just about to doze off before Dessa pushed herself up from her seemingly content slumber, knocking the wind out of him.

"Sorry, dad." She said quickly, making an attempt to escape his lap, but failing as he tightened his arms around her.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?" he said, half serious, half joking.

She was caught. She had to tell him. "Don't ask me why, but I need to find Tomb. He was in the lab collapse. Where's Smith? I need to talk to him too."

"Wait, wait, hold on. I can't just let you go off by yourself, not after what happened tonight."

"Fine, then come with me."

"But why—"

"I told you not to ask—"

"Dessa." Neo said sternly, taking her face and turning her eyes to his, giving her his 'I-was-The-One-too-you-know' face.

She sighed, knowing that he deserved the truth. "I had a dream."

_A dream. _So they _had_ come. He didn't ask for further explanation, and without hesitation, loosened his grip on her and reached for his crutches. "Ok, let's go."

…

Neo and Dessa passed the hospital as they made their way to where they knew Smith was moved. They saw Volt sitting against the building, his head in his crossed arms. Dessa slowed down and wanted to go to him, but her father's firm grip on her shoulder turned her attention back to their destination. Neo felt terrible for Volt, but they needed answers.

Just outside of the system entrance, they found Acantha and Adrastros, probably waiting for their parents; they weren't yet Researchers. Dessa met their eyes and they nodded in response, knowing that they had work to do.

They found Smith with Morpheus and a few other Researchers; Niobe, Ghost, and Link. Smith was shown on a large monitor, working with code.

"What's going on?" Neo asked.

Smith didn't react, he was too deep in thought. Morpheus looked to him, his eyes apologetic and concerned. "Smith is retracing ARIN's memory. He's found proof that what Kineta witnessed is what caused the lab collapse."

"Which was?" Neo asked, walking closer to the group, Dessa following.

"X overrode ARIN's programming and rendered it into a monster. It destroyed the balance beams before Kineta stopped it."

"I've finished." Smith said. "I've recovered most of the data, but could not salvage ARIN."

"You've done enough for us." Morpheus replied.

"No," Smith said, turning to Neo and Dessa, "not quite enough."

…

Trinity found a note taped to their apartment door as she approached. It read 'Gone out – N+D'

She huffed in disapproval, both husband and daughter completely out of their minds. Neo had a broken leg and Dessa had practically walked herself into a near death situation last night. The fact that they hadn't specified where they were going worried her immensely—although, she was more frustrated than worried at this point. She had to find them before something else happened.

…

"Is there a portable device that I could possibly transfer to? I'm the only one who can track Tomb." Smith directed his question to no one in particular.

"Yeah, probably." Link answered. "But I wouldn't know how to work it. Kineta's inventions were all unique. It would take me days to figure any of them out"

"I know someone who can." Dessa said, running back from where she came.

"Why exactly do we need Tomb?" Niobe asked.

"Tomb has probably found Hyde. If we find Hyde, we can find X." Neo said, Dessa having told him what she knew.

"How does she know that?" Morpheus asked.

"That's not important now. I'll explain later." Neo answered, knowing that at least Morpheus trusted him enough to wait for a complete answer.

Dessa came back with Volt, Niobe rolling her eyes immediately. She noticed this. "We need him. It doesn't matter if this is secret stuff, we need him." Dessa said in defense of the small but genius boy who had just lost his mother.

Morpheus nodded his acceptance and Volt darted to a cabinet, searching for something. "I can use my mom's Portable Code Reader to hold Smith. I just need a few things. Within a few minutes, Volt had Smith in his hands. Neo patted him on the back, then looked to Dessa. "I'm not sure I'll be much help to you."

Dessa knew it was true. With her father's broken leg, it would be a hassle for him a scale the debris of the collapse.

"You have to stay close, Neo." Smith said from the PCR. "I have a feeling we will need you."

…

When Trinity finally found them it was too late.

"They just left." Link said, pointing a thumb to the crater.

"Well, I'm going after them."

"No." he quickly intervened, knowing full well how dangerous it was to diny Trinity _anything_. "Me and Morpheus are up here just in case something goes wrong. You should stay with us."

Trinity sighed in frustration, then surrendered in defeat. If something really did go wrong, she would be ready.

…

Neo lagged behind the group as they trudged on through the debris.

"We're close, keep moving." Smith said.

"Got it." Volt confirmed, nodding his head enthusiastically. He was anxious as well as excited, avoiding the nervous glares that Niobe continued to give him. She wouldn't forgive herself if Volt was hurt, even though there was no one to scold her, now that Kineta was gone. She would be the one beating herself up.

Dessa was in front of the group, scouting ahead. She stopped abruptly, her hand covering her mouth in surprise.

"What happened?" Niobe asked, raising her voice so that Dessa could hear her.

"Its…its Tomb." She said, turning her head to look at them.

When they approached, Volt, Ghost and Niobe saw that Tomb was lying in the debris, seemingly unconscious.

"Volt." Smith said.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Check his vitals. He may be in the Matrix."

"What?" Niobe and Ghost said simultaneously. "Is that possible?" Ghost finished.

"Yes, for him. Tomb doesn't need to be plugged in."

"But we're not even close to getting reception down here." Niobe countered.

"He has his own receptor. He's a walking satellite." Smith explained flatly, as if she was suppose to know that.

"So, where is he?" Neo asked, having caught up.

"Probably in Hyde's second dimension." Smith answered quickly. "Hyde has made his own level of code invisible to regular Matrix feeds. I can reroute this PCR so that you can see it, but I'll need your help Volt."

Volt nodded, and he continued. "This means that Hyde must also be in the Matrix. If some of you enter and some stay, both groups will probably be able to find Hyde."

"Nice plan, but there's no way we can enter." Niobe said with a hint of sarcasm.

Just then, a sound echoed from behind the group. It was metal on metal, red lights flickering in the distant darkness. They all turned, Ghost and Niobe holding their weapons ready, Dessa standing in front of Volt. A machine sentinel appeared from the shadows, but he was no regular squiddie.

Neo limped ahead of the group, the only one comfortable around sentinels. He didn't speak, but made eye contact with the machine. "He was sent to help us." He told the group without breaking his stare. He watched intently as the machine's many eyes seemed to narrow towards Dessa. She could somehow hear words that only Neo could in the past. The machine asked if she was his spawn.

"Yes." Neo answered. "She's mine."

With that, the sentinel lifted two of its metallic tentacles to reveal their means of entering the Matrix.

"So, what? We jack you in here and leave to go find the other half-metal's body?" Niobe commanded an answer, thinking this too crazy to work.

"It's the only thing we can do." Neo replied, motioning for Dessa to come closer.

Niobe stared in disbelief as Neo jacked his own daughter into the Matrix via sentinel. She took her communicator from her belt to contact the surface. "Morpheus, you are _not_ going to believe this."

Ghost watched as Neo let the sentinel jack him in, father and daughter now both sent into the unknown. His ears perked up when he heard a very familiar voice over Niobe's communicator that didn't belong to Morpheus. It was Trinity. _Shit. We're in for it now._


	14. Hyding Place

Chapter 13: Hyding Place

"They. Did. _What_?" Trinity gasped in disbelief.

Morpheus then came from behind and took the communicator from Trinity, avoiding her death stare. "We're coming down. Meet us at the entry way and take us to them. We'll be there as soon as possible"

As Morpheus latched the radio back onto his belt, Trinity had already made her way to the lift. He and Link joined her as soon as she threatened to go down by herself if they didn't hurry up.

"Trinity." Morpheus said calmly, ignoring her current state of frustration. She looked at him, trying not to give the impression that she was venting her anger on him, and he continued. "I'm afraid that this has become more urgent of a matter than the earth's restoration. We've feared this ever since the Viruses were discovered."

"I know." Trinity replied, now looking away, knowing full well of the dangers Morpheus was alluding to. In the beginning, the Researchers had a theory that X was more dangerous than Smith ever had been.

"He has the codes, so he still has control." Morpheus said. He looked over at Link to continue the explanation.

Link nodded slightly. "I've confirmed his motives. He's given the Matrix a limited time span."

"Which means?" Trinity asked, a little less annoyed and more involved in the global problem at hand.

"He's going to shut down the Matrix and kill everyone still plugged in if we don't stop him soon."

"How soon?" Trinity persisted.

"24 hours."

"Shit." She cursed. And after a pause, "So, this isn't just about clouds anymore."

Morpheus shook his head solemnly as the lift reached the bottom of the crater. "It never was. The world is in need of the One once again."

…

Although she was gazing down at what seemed like almost an infinite fall from the building she was now standing on, she was not mesmerized by the height. She was looking at the code.

When he first opened his eyes, the first thing Neo looked for was Dessa. She had wandered ahead and was looking down on the strange city. No doubt she was analyzing code; it caught his eye as well. This level was absolutely fascinating. He remembered Smith telling them that Hyde had created this level, all for himself no doubt. To hide some more. A Hyding place. But an entire city? _To better hide the one specific code they were after_, he thought.

He walked over to his daughter. He stood next to her, also now looking down into the endless abyss.

"You could fall forever." Dessa said. "It looks dark down there."

She then felt her father's hand grip her shoulder. "I won't let go."

"I know." She replied, looking up at him. "So, where do we start?"

Before Neo could even begin to think, they both noticed a brawl in the distance. It had to be them. Tomb and Hyde.

"There." He said, moving his arm from Dessa's shoulder to her waist. "Hold on."

…

Tomb jumped from building to building effortlessly, although exhausted. Adrenaline pumped through his veins alongside electric pulses. He tried to ignore the battle raging inside him between his agent and human minds because of his current situation fighting for his life against the real enemy. His emotions threatened to take over as he could see the end of the battle coming nearer; his chances growing less and less as his human restraints held him back from what full-agents were capable of.

The good human agent fell, his head grinding into the concrete, sunglasses flying off his face. Bloodshot eyes pierced into the evil human agent's as he landed onto his feet. He wasn't very menacing, Tomb rendered, staring at him, waiting to endure another blow. Hyde was a gangly thing, he even wore glasses. He dressed like an agent, ; everything except the jacket, nothing like Tomb's RSI, which was the standard black uniform and coat for a crew member aboard the _Sophia_.

Hyde waited until Tomb stood. It took a few moments, but he managed. They were both rather mangled, blood dripping from Tomb's mouth while Hyde bore many small wounds about his body. It was obvious to both of them that Tomb had grown softer in his time living amongst the humans, therefore weaker. His energy was depleting twice as fast as Hyde's, his stamina almost completely withered away.

"You know," Hyde mused, rather devilishly as he returned Tomb's glare with a smile, "We're brothers, you and I. And shouldn't brothers be working together? On the same side?"

Tomb spat as his first response. Hyde was trying to reason with his human side. But humans could be extremely stubborn. "You're no brother of mine." He said in a grave voice. "You are nothing but a mindless machine! You have no power over me! X is the one controlling you, but why? Why?"

"There is no 'why,' brother. There is just what must be done." He said this so matter-of-factly, it made Tomb lung at him in anger.

"The war is _over_! Have you no shame?" Tomb screamed at him in his attack. Hyde forcefully threw him aside, the good human agent once again crashing to the ground.

"Have you forgotten your place? Have you forgotten what machines spent so long trying to gain, brother? We have the ability to rule all! Don't you understand? Power is what we live for!"

"No!" Tomb coughed up blood as he said this. "Not anymore! We're better than that! So much better—" his statement was interrupted by a nice kick in the face, which sent him into s state of blurred vision and hearing for a few minutes. He was about to let himself pass out until he heard a more than familiar voice.

"I've never heard you talk so much, even when you where my protector."

He tried his hardest to respond, trying even harder to find her eyes. He felt her kneel down and cradle his head on her shoulder, her arms around his limp body. "So you _do_ remember." His voice was weak, but strong enough for Dessa to pick up his joy in the fact that she remembered him.

" I…I never had a reason to talk." He pressed on, her hand buried in his lengthy black hair, supporting him and making it easier for him to speak. "Actions speak louder than words…" his chest heaved as he coughed more blood. He felt her sleeve wipe his mouth clean before he continued. "…most of the time."

His hearing came back before his vision did. He could hear fighting just beyond them; he could hear the yelp's of a helpless human agent being beaten to a pulp. Probably by Neo. Or Trinity, he reasoned neither of them would have let Dessa go alone with anyone else.

Dessa's subtle, yet intimate touch awakened him fully from his thoughts as her fingertips brushed the side of his aching face. Why did this feel so right? They both seemed to think this at the same time. Her giving comfort came as naturally as his acceptance of it.

"Hold on." Dessa's voice was nearly a whisper as the fighting seemed to have stopped. He felt her move slightly, probably to look up. He could vaguely see her silhouette as a shadow loomed over them both. He could hear Neo's voice, but not exactly what he had said. Dessa replied, "I can't just leave him here." Another mumble from Neo insisted something.

Dessa then turned back to Tomb stroking his face once more, whispering to him. "You got yourself in, but can you get yourself out? Is it safe?"

He nodded, knowing full well that it was _not _safe to take himself out in this condition, but they all needed her to focus on the mission at hand. "I'll wait for you." The next thing he said escaped his mind without a second thought. "For the first time in my life, I think I enjoy being human." He almost regretted saying it until he saw Dessa's serene smile; her eyes now locked with his in a sad happiness.

And that moment seemed to be good enough for her. Her hand fell to her side as a sign that she was ready for him to leave her, although she'd rather stay holding him like that a bit longer. She watched him disappear from her arms, first into code, then into nothing.

…

Tomb's eyes burst open and he felt hands on his shoulders, restraining him from thrashing out. He looked up to see Ghost.

"You're weak, you have to relax." He said calmly.

As he tried to take deep breaths, his body ached and he felt like dying. He could feel a shadow loom over him and he knew it was Trinity.

"I won't give up…" he tried to say. "I can't give up. I said I'd wait for her."

His whispers caught Trinity's attention immediately. His tone sounded extremely familiar. His words reminded her of her own desperation for Neo so many years ago. What had happened in there?

…

Neo felt his pulse quicken a bit as he watched his daughter reluctantly stand up. What had just happened? One minute, he told Dessa to check on the fallen while he took care of Hyde, who was at the moment still squirming in his grip. The next moment, she was looking at the wounded soldier like he'd once looked at his wounded Trinity so many years ago. For a brief moment, he wondered what exactly had happened between them that he didn't know about, but the now fighting back half-agent soon took his full attention.

"Quiet down. I know all your tricks." Neo hissed.

"Not all of them." Hyde said with an arrogant confidence. Before either Neo or Dessa could respond, Hyde snapped his fingers and a tornado of code enveloped both Neo and himself.

"What? No! Dad!" Dessa screamed in surprise, reaching out to the code only to have it dissolve between her fingers. "What the hell just happened?"

…

"What the hell just happened?" Trinity asked almost frantically as she watched the Matrix feed shutter in Volt's hands.

"I don't know!" Volt replied. "I've never seen _that_ happen before."

"Hyde controls his level of the Matrix just like Neo and Dessa can control it normally." Smith said. "He's sent Neo deeper into the maze."

"The maze?" Niobe questioned.

"Isn't it obvious?" Smith said with just a hint of incredulousness. "Hyde's level is a giant maze that he's now challenged Dessa to maneuver through to get to the code and now her father."

"That's it." Trinity said. "I'm going in."

After only two seconds of incredulous silence, Niobe was the only person with the nerve to question Trinity. "Wait, Trinity. We don't have a plan. It's too dangerous."

"Exactly why I'm going." She practically stormed towards the sentinel, who was ready to jack her in. She stopped when Niobe firmly took her shoulder and turned her around. They stared at each other for a few beats, reading each other with their eyes. They were both warriors, leaders, and mothers. If there was anyone who understood Trinity's position to go to her family, it was Niobe. Trinity nodded to her as she felt Niobe's grip turn into a warm grasp.

"Bring them back." Niobe said solemnly.

"I won't rest until I do." Trinity practically whispered.

Niobe gave a knowing nod and let go of her shoulder, letting her crouch to the floor beside her husband. When Trinity called Volt to confirm her location, Niobe sighed, not knowing what else to do. She felt Morpheus stand beside her and knew what he was about to say.

"So, now we've gotta find the half-metal?" Niobe said without looking at him.

"Unless you don't want to. I can always bring Link or Ghost." Morpheus replied, knowing full well how she would respond.

"No way, you're going with me. Link can't shoot for his life and I told Ghost to stay with Volt and Tomb. And besides," she looked up at him, "you're a mess without me."

Morpheus just shook his head and lead the way further into the debris.


	15. The Source

**A/N: I appoligize if this is the crappiest thing you've ever read, but I had a goal to finish it today! I'll edit it later, don't worry, just please try to enjoy the story.**

Chapter 14: The Source

Trinity had found Dessa fairly quickly, having called her and told her to stay where she was. Now, only about ten minutes later, they were on a high way, being chased by phantom programs. Trinity was silently impressed with the car Volt was able to find for them. With some training, Volt would be an excellent Operator.

Dessa was still analyzing the code around them, even in the heat of the potential chase. These symbols were new to her; Hyde's personal creations, only legible to her.

"Don't look around. They're watching us." Trinity said bluntly.

"They're always watching us." Dessa countered with an equal lack of emotion. She reluctantly faced forward after about three seconds of silence, understanding the urgency of this mission. She could feel the car speeding up and looked at her mother, the dead end of the highway coming closer every millisecond.

"You know how birds teach their young to fly?" Trinity asked without taking her eyes off the road. She was nervous, but amazingly good at hiding the feeling.

"Yeah." Dessa replied, now knowing her plan. "The mom pushes them out of the nest." She gripped the edge of her seat with one hand while the other was firmly clenching the door handle.

"Well, get ready to learn!" Trinity yelled over the screeching of the car tires as she abruptly turned and drifted to the end of the highway. Dessa opened the door just before the car hit the concrete railing and was flung by the law of inertia into the air. She didn't look back as she freed her mind and believed that she could fly like her father.

Trinity watched for mere seconds as her daughter disappeared into the green sky. She was tempted to follow, but remembering what Link had told her on the phone, she had more important matters to attend to. She stepped out of the car pulled out her guns to the approaching vehicles. "You'll get to her over my dead body!"

…

"Where do you think Hyde took Neo? Maybe another hidden level?"

Morpheus heard Niobe's voice behind him, their chatter a comfort to him since it was getting increasingly harder to see where they were going as it became darker.

"Highly unlikely, but nothing's impossible." He replied, squinting ahead, now using his flash light.

"What do you think X will do with him?" she asked, not really wanting an answer.

"He's Smith in all ways bad…so I presume the first thing he'd want to do would be to kill him."

The truth was morbid, but realistic. X would probably kill him on the spot, if he had that much power, or if he could find a way to reduce Neo's power, which they knew was possible.

When they reached the edge of the crater, Niobe flashed her light on the thin layer of concrete separating them from the earth's soil. She ran a hand along the wall, her finger eventually sliding into a separation. "Hold on." She said to herself, although Morpheus turned at her voice. She was now examining what looked like a door frame. "Ah-ha!"

"What's this?" Morpheus said, stepping back to take a better look.

After a moment, Niobe looked back at him. "A hole in the wall." She pressed a button that just had been invisible to Morpheus a second ago. A dust covered screen then popped out of the wall, gravel escaping in its movement and lights slowly blinking from lack of use.

"How did you know about this?" Morpheus asked.

"Long story short. Kineta used to come here for privacy, before the system was built. I know all her passwords. Said she needed someone know if…you know."

"Why did she tell you?" Morpheus was intrigued by the fact that he had been unaware of this for so long.

"She didn't just tell _me._" Niobe explained, blowing the dust from the screen. "Trinity knows. And so does Zee. She told Acantha just recently—"

"Ah, I see. Classic Kineta. Feminist in all aspects."

"You got that right. She was just about to tell Dessa too…" Niobe half teased while typing in the password. After she pressed 'enter', the door took its time to open, gravel falling from all sides. Metal groaned, revealing its old age.

The air was cold inside, but everything reminded them of a young Kineta; a Kineta who could actually see. There were posters everywhere of everything, paintings and pictures taking up every bit of wall space. Morpheus found himself staring at these pictures. This was like a time capsule. He saw pictures of her colleagues, of himself, of Niobe, of everyone except Neo and Trinity.

"She must not have come down here for years." Morpheus observed. He looked to where Niobe was investigating. She had found a plate with a day old meal on the couch.

"Well," she said, even more highly cautious of their surroundings. "_She _hasn't. But who has?"

…

Neo sat alone in an empty room. He was surrounded by an un-lockable code that he'd never encountered before, and was probably never supposed to. _Christ. _He thought. _What the hell kind of agents are we dealing with?_ _Is this the code that only Dessa can decrypt? _It had to be, there was no other explanation. X was truly a virus; he'd survived Smith's deletion and was now spreading his new and improved threat into the Matrix.

Suddenly, he felt a presence. Her presence. _Damn it. _He knew Trinity would jack in once she found them.

Before he had another second to think, he felt another presence; an unknown presence. Through the wall, a figure walked in, a tentative Hyde just behind him. He was sharp. That was the only word, (other than boring), that Neo could come up with at first glance. His face looked just as he remembered, his menacing gaze just hidden by a thin layer of reflective glass.

X. No longer Smith, who had, as odd as it sounded, a _consciousness_. Yes, he was a program gone a-wall, but he questioned life just as humans had and truly believed that his methods would rid the world of evil; of the virus that mankind was to him. But X, he just wanted to destroy for the sake of destroying. Neo could sense it in his stance; from the sinister smile on his face. This was not Smith. X was much worse.

"Mr. Anderson. You seem surprised to see me." X said in a familiar tone.

Neo looked straight at him, ignoring Hyde's twitching in the background.

"Don't you want to know what I've planned for you? For your world?" he paused to take off his glasses. "For your _daughter_?"

…

Morpheus remained looking at the numerous pictures on the wall, keeping his ears very much alert. They stood silently for a second until they both heard something strange, as if someone were shuffling their feet nearby.

"What was—" Niobe was interrupted by a hard smack in the head.

"Niobe!" Morpheus shouted, running at the figure standing just above her. He had hit Niobe with a metal rod, and before he could swing it again, Morpheus took hold and twisted it out of his hands. They both punched wildly and rammed each other back and forth from concrete wall to concrete wall, both with the intension of knocking the other into submission. Just as Morpheus thought he would collapse from fatigue, Niobe came from behind the stranger and knocked him out with the same metal rod that she'd been hit with.

"Mess with him you mess with me." She hissed, spitting on the now unconscious attacker. "And messing with me is a _bad_ idea."

She was tempted to hit him again in anguish just as Morpheus bent down to examine the man. He turned him over and saw a familiar face. "Axel…we wondered what happened to you…" Morpheus almost whispered. "He must have been copied while in the Matrix...like Bane. A servant for Hyde ever since."

"Or X." Niobe almost whispered. She was very much intrigued with their new discovery, but just as she knelt down to join Morpheus, they heard more movement behind them. This wasn't over.

…

Neo remained silent, standing his ground and analyzing the situation.

"Not too talkative, are we?" X almost growled in disappointment. "Even at the threat of your daughter's life, you remain painstakingly unaffected?" his frown slowly turned into a smile as his eyebrows perked up. "Ah, of course. You were trained to never show emotion here. That may work on the small minded humans, but not on _me_. I can see right through you."

He started to pace around the room. Very slowly, he walked around Neo as he remained perfectly still. "What is it you're trying to hide? Hmm? Are you afraid of something, perhaps? That the life of your only child is about to be taken away? How about the life of your lovely _wife_?"

Neo turned his head to the side to give X a sideways death stare. "You touch our daughter and Trinity will kill you before I can even get to you."

"Oh, threats now? I love a good empty threat." He smiled. Swiftly, as if on cue, the walls became screens , showing a terribly uneven gun fight. Trinity was making her way through what looked like an army of programs. Neo gritted his teeth at the sight of her fighting alone. He could tell that she was getting tired, but wasn't letting up.

X then let out of sinister laugh and kept pacing the room. "Why, Mr. Anderson, do your animalistic instincts rule over what is truly _you_? You are a program in a human's body. You have the power to rule _anything and everything, _and yet you live in denial. Love is a weakness Mr. Anderson, it means _nothing_. And your daughter, if anything, should be used for her power. You underestimate her. You waste her talent…"

Neo wasn't listening, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts._ God, Trinity. _He couldn't help but stare into the screen, feeling absolutely helpless, wanting so much to break out and help her. But he couldn't. Dessa was the One now. _Hang in there. Please Trin, hold on._

As if he could hear Neo's silent prayers, Tomb came flying from under the high way and grabbed Trinity, their code evaporating into nothing.

…

Acantha was starting to get nervous, and although Adrastros didn't show it, she knew that he was too.

"Do you think they found anything?" she asked.

"They must have or they would be here by now." Her brother replied, flatly.

Acantha crossed her arms, now both nervous _and_ _jealous_. "We've heard so much about the war." She began. "I just want to…to…do something!" she glanced at her brother, who was shaking his head. She knew he felt the same way, but for some reason, he hid it in order to feel mature, like their dreams were childish or something. "You know something's up, AT.

As if Acantha's frustration had been a cue, lightning struck the sky, a loud crash of thunder quickly following.

"What the—!" Acantha, and now Adrastros, were both openly astonished by the thunder clouds raging just above their heads.

"It's covering up the sky!" random people shouted in the distance, running into their houses and taking their children out of the now chilling streets.

Something's up! We have to find Mom and Dad!" Acantha's voice grew higher in volume as the thunder came closer. Adrastros just stared at her, having the gut feeling that she was right. This had something the Matrix, and he knew that their parents either already knew, or needed to be informed. His sister would definitely do something reckless, he knew, but…

"I can't let you go alone." He said, putting his back pack on and adjusting the straps.

At first, she looked at him with surprise, but slowly, a smile creeped across her lips.

…

Both Niobe and Morpheus were beaten down, overwhelmed by the brutal strength of their long-lost comrades. Morpheus pitied them, their minds completely gone and their bodies being driven like killing machines. Niobe just plain fought back, no consciousness of hers holding her back, even when thrown on the ground and pinned down for the final blow. She looked over at Morpheus, fully expecting this to be the last time she would ever see him look back at her.

But that wasn't the case, to both their surprise.

The man about to strike Morpheus was electrocuted in a blue flash, the body smoking as it fell lifeless. The other drone was flung across the room, the sound of glass and metal clashing and breaking in the distance.

Both parents regained their senses as they laid eyes on their children, having come to their rescue.

"How did you…" Niobe couldn't finish her thought, astonished that they somehow knew that they were in trouble. She sat up and gratefully hugged her daughter close.

"There are thunderstorms on the surface! We thought that something was wrong!" Acantha said, fighting tears to her surprise.

"We met up with Ghost. He told us you had gone this way. We had no real clue that you were here, but Acantha knew Kineta's password, but we had no idea you were in _this_ kind of trouble." Adrastros explained, helping his father up and gratefully receiving his embrace.

"Wait, thunderstorms?" Niobe asked.

"Neo and Dessa. They've found X. The code is either within reach—"

"Or in the process of being destroyed. Along with the Matrix itself."

Morpheus tensed, remembering the fateful day he had lost both Neo and Trinity to the end of the war. Not again. He ventured deeper into the corridor as quickly as he could, knowing he'd find some way to enter the Matrix in Kineta's secret layer.

…

"What?" X exclaimed. "That little—"

Before he could utter another word, Dessa broke through the wall and punched Hyde in the face. He recoiled as Dessa kept hitting, still weak from Neo's assault. X took Hyde by the shoulder and threw him out of Dessa's way, as if he were a priceless artifact not to be touched. Or rather, a highly reactive bomb. The smaller agent knelt down in pain, the code inside of him, visible to Neo, pounding as if it would burst. Hyde clutched to where his heart would be..

_Of course. _Neo thought. _Hyde is a ticking time bomb. He has the code we need along with the Matrix' time limit. If Dessa can get to him, then this war is over. _His senses were the most alert they ever had been as he watched Dessa defend herself against X. He didn't have the chance to go and help her until she was thrown across the room. Hyde limped over to X with a defeated look on his face, knowing something that the rest couldn't possibly.

"Master! Someone's infiltrated my hide-out!" He keeled over, the code around them shuttering, his voice shouting over sound of the building crumbling under their feet

"What the hell is he talking about? Why is the ground shaking?" Dessa spat out, Neo holding her back from fighting any further. She looked up at him. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Hyde has the code." He whispered back. "You have to take it out from his chest, you almost destroyed it."

"What? How?" Dessa asked incredulously, her mind having no room for thinking logically at the moment.

"You can't kill him yet, not until after you crack the lightning cloud code. Remember your favorite story as a little kid? I'd tell it to you most every night to get you to go to sleep. It was about how I brought your mother back to life after she was shot. I started her heart."

"And you expect me to be able to do _that_?" Dessa hissed.

"You can do anything, you just have to free your mind."

But before Dessa could begin to compose herself, Hyde and his master disappeared.

"Damn it!" she shouted.

Neo took her by the waist and flew out the hole in the wall, taking out his phone and calling Volt.

"Neo!" the boy shouted excitedly.

"Volt, who found the hide-out?" he said, landing on the top of another building.

"Morpheus and Niobe, they just called us, said they were going to find Hyde."

"Tell them not to kill him, whatever they do. He has the code we need."

"O-Ok, Neo. But what about X?"

"I'm going to personally make sure he gets deleted. Properly this time. That's all I know right now. But Volt, I need you to locate X and Hyde for me, we lost them."

"That won't be necessary." Dessa interrupted, taking Neo's full attention, Volt searching anyway. He noticed that Dessa was floating about two inches off the ground and in deep thought. He sighed. "So you learned without me?"

"I kind of had to, Mom threw me out of the car. Literally." She said, still looking away in concentration.

"I can believe that." Neo replied coolly, observing his daughter patiently.

As she delved into her inner self, she could sense that Hyde had hid himself among his own codes. He was growing weaker, and so was the code he was protecting.

"I can find him, I can see him. But X isn't with him."

"I'll take care of him, he can't be far. This dimension is falling apart."

"Why is that?" Dessa asked. She was unexpectedly answered by a familiar voice.

"This dimension is connected to Hyde completely. His weakness if effecting his surroundings." Morpheus said, coming from behind with Niobe.

"He's right." Volt chimed in from the phone in the captain's hand. "Hyde is basically X's giant battery and storage system for everything. He uses him like we would a computer."

"Which is why Hyde has the last of Dessa's code." Niobe said.

"We'll handle X." Morpheus said to Neo. "I'm not letting you fight alone this time."

Neo took a step towards him and gripped his hand in appreciation. "Thank you." He said, both understanding the other perfectly. Neo looked back at his daughter and walked to her, her hand extended.

"You might want to hold on." She said, taking his hand firmly in hers.

His eyes questioned, but his hand pulsed in hers, approving whatever she was about to do. Before he knew it, they disappeared from Morpheus and Niobe's sight, leaving them to find X before time ran out.

…

It was like swimming through a sea of code, the current strong, randomly taking them through a supernatural path to their destination. Once they landed from whatever sensation they had just encountered, Neo turned his head to his daughter, still holding her hand tightly.

"How the hell did you do that?" he said, astonished.

"I freed my mind." She said simply. "I've seen Hyde do it twice now, thought if I could do _anything_, I could do that, too."

"Nobody's perfect!" Hyde screamed as he jumped from behind and grabbed Dessa from behind. His arm wrapped around her neck as he back up from Neo. They were gone in an instant of swirling code.

"Shit." Neo cursed. "Well…if she can do it, so can I."

…

"Think you can take me, huh?" X said, appearing from behind.

"That's right, faker." Niobe remarked, pointing her guns at him.

"_Faker_? _I_ am much more powerful than the previous Smith. _He_ was the faker. _He_ was a _failure_."

"Depends on how you look at things." Another voice besides Morpheus and Niobe's spoke. They all looked to where it had come from, seeing Smith immediately.

"You didn't think I would miss _this_, did you?" he said, calmly.

Morpheus and Niobe looked at each other as Smith approached them, joining their team. They all looked to X, who's face had changed from overly confident to slightly intimidated. He flew down into the endless drop just below, daring them to follow him. Smith ran and jumped off the building without hesitation, the two captains following him after one last glance at the other, hoping it wasn't their last.

…

As Hyde had a grip on her through the currents of code, Dessa was wracking her brain until she could break his concentration and control their movement through their teleportation. They separately landed on another rooftop, it too threatening to crumble below their feet. Hyde winced in pain as he hit the hard floor. Dessa took her chance and attempted to pin him to the ground. He kicked her off her feet, defending himself well even in this state. They both got to their feet and began to fight.

_Of course he knows kung fu and jujitsu. _Dessa thought to herself. But her mood quickly changed. _But he didn't have _my_ teacher._

She held onto her form and patience as she gripped her left fist tighter, feeling the band of silver around her middle finger against the coarse skin of her palm. He was about ready to grab her and teleport again when she jumped into the air, freezing time for merely seconds, even in Hyde's dimension. She kicked his face and threw him twenty feet back. When he expected to land on the ground, he was horrified to realize who had caught him.

"P-please, I-I don't know how to retrace it…" Hyde stuttered, referring to the code.

This reaction confused Dessa, almost making her feel bad for Hyde, having to be X's slave. She looked to her father sensing that he felt the same. "Well, I do." She said, approaching him. She put her hand on his chest where his heart would be, as if preparing him for impact. She dug into his code, the pain almost too much for him as he cried out, now backing himself closer to Neo in rejection.

"Hold him steady…" Dessa said, concentrating on the code. She had it in her fist, and slowly, she pulled from the poor slave's chest. The half agent gasped as if for air. He watched as the code emanated a bright white in Dessa's hand. It grew until her entire body was invisible to both him and Neo. Then, it burst and dispersed into the air almost like fireworks.

"Now that that's done…" Dessa said, seeing the now human plea to live in Hyde's eyes.

He stood a bit straighter, Neo releasing his grip on him. "I believe…" the human agent began, "…that I now understand my brother. Why he chose to be human…" he trailed off, looking away. "I will finish this."

Not quite understand, Dessa stayed put and stared at him, confused when her father took her arm and pulled her aside. Light began to shine from behind the young man's sunglasses as his face contorted slightly from what looked to be pain. His sunglasses cracked and splinted, the rest of his body doing the same. Soon, he was gone within a burst of light, rightfully returned to the source.

Dessa stared, knowing that part of the threat was gone. But in order for that threat to stay dead, they needed X destroyed as well.

…

Bullets flew rapidly as they fell. Buildings toppled left and right, glass and concrete just as deadly as any bullet.

It was three against one, but that one had the home advantage. He dodged faster than the humans, even better than his 'good' counterpart.

"That's it!" Niobe yelled, irritated beyond control. She maneuvered herself as if to do a pencil dive, gaining speed and ground on X. She aimed for his head, just missing and getting his sunglasses. He looked back at her, ready to grab her and shove her into a nearby building, but instead, Smith got in his way and they both went spiraling. Smith pushed him away when his phone rang. He answered it as soon as possible.

"Smith! I've reprogrammed you!"

"I noticed. Do you want me to bring them back _now_?"

"That's what Neo said. He should be coming now."

Smith glanced sideways to below him, the glass windows of the buildings shattering from some ferocious force just below them.

"Yes, I see him now." He said, hanging up. He flew up to Morpheus and Niobe, taking them by their coats, acting as their exit, knowing Neo and Dessa could handle this on their own.

X let his confusion show as he watched them disappear out of the collapsing city. Aggression soon followed as Neo came flying at him, forcing them both to crash into an already shattered window. X immediately fought back once he broke free from Neo's grip. X fought without restraint, form having nothing to do with his methods of offense…or was it defense. Everything was a haze in his eyes as his sheer determination to conquer and win overrode his entire being.

Finally, he threw Neo into the wall and thought he'd won. "Where's your savior now? What happened to your little girl? Did the agent do away with her?"

"Not even close!" Dessa yelled over the noise of crushing walls. She punched her fist into his back, hanging onto his code as she destroyed it through her fingertips. White light did the same to him as it did to his slave, his screams of denial raging over the crunching and screeching of destruction.

Light took over the room as Dessa began to feel her surroundings change. Before long, X was no longer in her grip, her father still sitting some feet in front of her. He stood, once he realized the same thing. A figure stepped out from a door not too far away.

"So, we meet again." The Architect said, not at all surprised.

"Is X destroyed?" Neo asked, straight to the point.

"Not quite yet." The old program answered, somewhat grateful for Neo's persistence, it shortens the visit. "One of you—or both—must enter the Source to completely rid it from coming back. Your unique code will both quicken and guarantee X's deletion."

"Will we survive?" Neo asked, very flatly.

"If you do truly desire to live, you can. But as a warning, the Source only sees things one way. Survival will be a difficult process."

"Where?" Dessa didn't hesitate to ask.

"Just through there." The Architect said, pointing to a door opposite of him, highly amused by the young one's decision.

Neo gave her a stern look as she began to walk up to the door. He grabbed her arm, but she pulled it free and pushed him back without touching him. He felt light headed, and everything went black as he slipped back into the real world.

…

His eyes closed just as fast as they had opened. "Why, why, why?" he hissed in anguish. He hadn't seen Trinity at his side, but he felt her. Her hand went behind his head to unplug him, his eyes still closed. He could feel her body hovering just inches from his even after he'd felt the plug slide out of his skull. After what seemed like hours, he finally opened his eyes, seeing many different fears portrayed in Trinity's. He took her face down into his and kissed her, reassuring her that he was perfectly fine, although he couldn't say the same for Dessa. He was also very much relieved that she was safe, having sensed her presence in the Matrix.

"What is it, what happened?" Trinity asked almost frantically after the kiss, fearing their daughters defeat...or worse. She'd sensed a bit of relief in Neo's sudden need, but just as much sadness at the same time.  
He looked at his daughter before sitting up and taking Trinity's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Why does she have to be so much like you?" his voice was deep in frustration and concern. It was more of a statement then a question, and although it was a bit of a back handed compliment, Trinity could only fear the worst from his serious tone of voice.

"She pushed me out of the way." He continued, glancing at Volt and Ghost, who had paid enough attention to the Matrix feed to know the details of what he was talking about. He took a glance at Tomb as well, who was worriedly staring at Dessa. "She wouldn't let me go with her. She forced me to wake up."

Trinity's first inner reaction was "she can force a disconnection?" but that wasn't nearly her first concern. "She pushed you out of the way of what?"

"The Source." Neo said. His voice was hollow now in the shadow of his own disbelief. That last moment still perplexed him as he looked back on it, only able to remember the look in Dessa's eyes. Determination, blind confidence that she would succeed. But there was only room for one reason to succeed with that type of confidence, Neo knew. She sacrificed herself not for human kind, but for _him_. And for her mother, just as he had when his time was up. How was she able to make that decision so quickly? And without a hint of insecurity? She was growing up much too fast, and when he involuntarily turned his head to look at her, he feared he would never look upon those fearless, yet soft blue eyes ever again.

He felt Trinity's hand grow weak in his. She abruptly turned to face her daughter; her pride and joy; her little girl. She looked so peaceful, like when she was younger and ignorant of the dangers that surrounded her entire being and future.

"Please," she prayed to nothing and no one in particular. "Please." Her voice was filled with sadness; she was on the verge of crying out.

As tears threatened to spill onto her face, she felt Neo's arms circle around her shoulders from behind, and tightly. She could feel his chest heave against her back, his uneven breaths on her neck. He tried to control himself as he breathed her in, which was somehow comforting to her as well. She would turn around and embrace him properly if she could take her eyes off of their angel; but she couldn't. Not until she was awake and safe in the real world.

Neo could only think of Trinity's death. He couldn't go through that again, not with their child. _Their child._ Something he'd never gotten tired of hearing. Those three years without her was torture enough, _please, _he hoped and dreamed, _don't take her away again. I promised her. I promised her._

Tomb slowly looked up to see Dessa's parents, consumed in their concern and misery as they waited for the outcome of this war that had silently been raging since their daughter's birth. He ignored every impulse that told him to lie down and rest. He let go of his internal struggle between man and machine and let his heart decide. He would not rest until he saw Dessa's eyes open.

Once Trinity made eye contact with him, he sheepishly stared back, but only for a moment. Her eyes dug into his as if to say _'you bastard, why'd you take me out of the Matrix when I could've helped prevent this?'_ as well as a simple _'thank you._' Ghost had made him go in to get Trinity, so he was tempted to tell her, but no one dared to speak. Breathing seemed to be hard enough.

What would it be like to have parents so caring? He'd never thought about it before. He'd spent too much time ignoring human nature and life itself. Now, all he could possibly think about was the opposite of what he'd conditioned himself to think. He yearned for Dessa to be safe, not because it was his duty or his mission, but because he cared for her. He'd been ignoring that fact ever since he met her all those years ago. He'd cared for her this long, and now he was helpless in this last battle; this silent battle. It wasn't even up to the Source to decide Dessa's fate, it was up to her. She had to make it out alive. He didn't know how she would do it, but if there was anyone he put his full, true, human faith in, it was her.


	16. The War is Over

Chapter 15: The War is Over

Peace. The black and heavy peace that was once silence and bliss. She knew this painless bliss too well, but this was not the bliss she wanted.

_Not yet. Not now._

_I have to be with them. I want to be with them. I've made my choice. I belong with them._

Her own words echoed through her mind, racing and flowing through her veins as if they had replaced her blood supply. She felt life all around her; she felt air fill her lungs; she felt warmth just beside her and the beat of her own heart.

_Let me go home. I've done my job, now let me be!_

Her inner recklessness interrupted her flow of thought; she felt pain like no other strike her spine as she felt like she was rising up into the light…

Her eyes flew open and a low scream of pain left her lips. She felt herself going in and out of consciousness, weary from her forced journey out of the Source. The first thing she saw was her mother's tears. She tried to move, and she managed to wrap her arms around her mother's withering form, but she could not sit up by herself. After her mother pulled back, she felt her father's hands stroking her short hair, then her face. His touch almost coaxed her to stay awake, but she hadn't the strength. Everything went black.

…

Trinity couldn't get the sight out of her mind. When they had returned to the surface, the endless sky was just as breath taking as she had remembered. It wasn't just a patch of pale blue in a storm of electric current, but it was a gorgeous, infinite body of blue and white. People all around slowly inched out of their apartments for a better look, hardly noticing their immerging savior. All symbols of the war were now gone and done with. The war was truly over.

"I'd rather her be in Zion." Neo said as they sat next to their sleeping daughter. Trinity slowly turned her gaze to him and nodded solemnly. She understood his request, having missed home herself. Electroid was a fascinating place, especially now with the sky in all its glory, but they needed Zion just as much as Zion needed them.

As soon as the doctor said that they could take Dessa home, Neo wasted no time and took her in his arms, ready to board the train. He remembered how much he hated hospitals, let alone Dessa having to be in one. He kissed the top of her head before they left, knowing that privacy would not be awaiting them outside.

Tomb had been waiting as well, for days it seemed. He wanted to see her awake; to see his savior stare into his eyes again with her blue, starlit gaze. His favorite part about being human was allowing himself to have feelings. Love had once been foreign to him, but now, he couldn't possibly imagine living without it.

Neo walked out first, Dessa like a small child cradled in his arms. Tomb stared at her for mere seconds, imagining what it would be like to be an ignorant stranger without the knowledge of how brutally powerful this 'small child' really was. She looked so peaceful; so young. Who was she? He wasn't sure now, but was determined find out.

He met Neo's eyes. Sadness mixed with happiness; confusion mixed with acceptance; Neo no longer seemed like the fearless man able to manipulate the Matrix at will. He seemed weak, but too strong to care. His eyes told the human agent to follow, knowing the hurt he was feeling all too well. The young man nodded, meeting Trinity's eyes as well and following her out into Zion. She seemed not nearly as perplexed as her husband. She had an air about her that was filled with appreciation for life and love; evenly entranced in their newfound salvation.

They walked into an almost completely silent Zion as they made it through the train station. People stopped to pay them nearly all of their attention as they passed. Some kneeled, some stood with their heads down, and some simply watched with respectful and appreciative eyes. If they could see the surface, they would fully understand what Dessa had done for them, but for now, they thanked her for the salvation of human kind. It was a start.

…

When Dessa woke again, she noticed that she wasn't in her room—or in Electroid for that matter. She slowly sat up and looked around, finding an IV in her arm, but paying no mind to do anything about it. She quickly realized that she was in her parent's bedroom. But where were _they_?

Blood quickly rushed to her face as soon as she remembered what she had done. She was _alive_. Out of the Matrix. Had they won? Was the threat finally defeated? Had she really done it?

"Mom? Dad?" she called for them as adrenaline pumped through her veins in the realization of the possible fulfillment of the prophesy. She promptly decided to try and get up once she heard no reply or movement outside of the room, but soon realized that whatever plan she had had before trying was destined to fail as she face-planted into the floor. Her left arm was hung up by the IV cord, her legs painlessly twisted behind her. "What the—" she mumbled, not able to move or even feel her legs.

She heard rushing footsteps against concrete before she looked up to see her parents in the doorway. They both bolted to her in worry after seeing her trying to lift herself up, knowing the terrible truth of her newly disabled body. But Dessa, meeting her father's eyes, couldn't help but laugh at herself, although knowing that something was seriously wrong. They set her down on the bed and took the IV out of her arm, her lifeless legs dangling off the edge.

Dessa wasn't terribly concerned about her body while in her mother's tight embrace; all she cared about was the fact that they were all alive—wait.

"Is everyone alright? Can we see the sky" Dessa said this hurriedly, slightly pulling away from Trinity. "Did Tomb make it out?"

"Relax, sweetheart." Neo said, one arm tightly around her now. "He made it out fine. Everyone did." He put a hand on her knee, knowing full well that she couldn't feel it. This disturbed Dessa in a way she didn't think possible. She hesitated in voicing her concern.

"I…I can't feel them." Dessa observed. She only felt Trinity's embrace tighten around her shoulders.

"It'll be Ok." Trinity said, on the verge of tears.

"I know." Dessa said. She truly did know. And without much thought, she voiced exactly what was on her mind. "I saved Zion. _This_ is nothing compared to the pain I've felt in the past. I could care less about ever walking again, as long as I'm where I belong."

Both parents felt their hearts swell with pride. They didn't think they could possibly love her more.

3 year later:

It was dark and the stars were out, brilliantly shining over the city. She ran with purpose, jumping at the last minute, breathing in the freedom she had while in the Matrix.

She could have easily went to the construct, but nothing felt better than flying through the actual Matrix, feeling the reality of the artificial. Ironic, yes, but real people still lived in the Matrix, people with real memories and lives, even if it is just in their heads. Truthfully, the reality that was so invigorating did have something to do with danger—and she loved it. She supposed it was in her blood to like the feeling, although that was something she never would dream of telling her parents.

Things were a bit harder now, in the Matrix. The ones "in denial" were now fighting back, shielding their people from the controversy of the real world, knowing full well what the truth was. Being in the Matrix alone was highly dangerous because of them. But even so, Dessa snuck in some nights, Tomb as her operator, running and flying and just being free, especially free to use her legs. Her disabilities didn't affect her here.

Her phone rang and she answered it. she heard Tomb's voice.

"I hear someone coming, you better get out here. Quick." Tomb whispered, highly cautious, but able to hide his fear. They'd never been caught before, so he could only imagine the consequence Trinity would inflict on both of them. And throughout the years of feeling human, he'd realized that he had quite the imagination.

"Got it." She replied. "Where's my exit.

There was a pause, then a tentative, "Just two blocks away. Outside the Chinese restaurant."

She promptly hung up, paying not mind to Tomb's change over the phone. It didn't take long to reach the phone, but it was just then when she realized what had happened on the other end.

She woke up to see her mother standing just next to her, holding Tomb back by the collar of his shirt.

"You two know better. We had a deal." Trinity said sternly, letting go of Tomb to unplug her daughter.

"A deal I never agreed on in the first place." Neo said, coming from the entrance.

"When did this have to be a unanimous decision?" Trinity said, turning to him. She turned back to face Dessa, now sitting up. "Dessa, you're only 17, not even old enough to really be recruited."

"Then why have you taken me on most every mission for _three_ years? To keep an eye on me? For my powers maybe?"

"Neither." Neo replied, sounding serious, helping her into her wheel chair. "I don't trust you being home alone." His serious tone was now gone.

Dessa dramatically threw her hand over her heart, acting hurt. "You don't trust me? That's the most horrific thing you could possibly say to me!"

"Neither of you are helping." Trinity interrupted, pushing Neo from Dessa as if to say, 'you're a terrible influence sometimes.'

"Look," she continued, kneeling down so she was at Dessa' level. "I understand why you love being jacked-in, but you can't enter the Matrix every time you feel like it. it's not a game. it's dangerous."

"I know. I'm sorry." Dessa was defeated, she knew just how much he mother hated when she was in unnecessary danger.

Trinity sighed. "You don't have to be." She got up, placing a hand on Dessa's head. "Please just go to bed, it's late. And Tomb..." she turned her head, staring at the young man attempting to escape the core among the shadows, something he was usually successful at. "Don't give into my daughter's craft so easily. Or so often. That's an order."

"Yes ma'm." He said, at attention.

She smirked, secretly marveling at how much he's changed throughout the years.

"It's surprising." Neo said out loud, as if reading her mind. "I thought you'd be the last person on this ship to give into peer pressure."

Tomb tried not to smirk and somewhat succeeded. He shrugged, keeping the secret that it had not been peer pressure whatsoever. She'd asked him and he'd complied without another word, that's just how it was with them now.

When they both left, Dessa allowing Tomb to push her chair—something only he did often—Neo and Trinity both remained at the feed, taking a double shift like usual.

After some silence, Trinity spoke. "17. Almost 18. Did you ever think the day would come?"

"Yeah," Neo replied after a small pause. "I've been dreading it."

They were silent again. It was welcomed silence, calm silence.

At least to Neo's knowledge, only Trinity could break silence gently. "What'll we do after we've freed all that can be freed? Will the Matrix still exist for those who can't accept reality?"

Neo didn't answer right away, not really knowing how to respond. The council had been asking the same questions, the machines not giving specific answers.

"The answer lies in the future."

They both casually spun around in their chairs, expectedly seeing Morpheus before them. For a moment, they all felt years younger, on the _Neb, _making a plan and fighting the war. They could both tell what he was about to say; they all knew each other too well. Both Neo and Trinity got up, defiantly feeling younger now, disobeying the orders they had just given their own daughter.

"Morpheus, load us up."

**The End. Yes, I'm finally done. Wow, this is the longest thing I've ever written, I feel awesomely accomplished :D YES! ACCOMPLISHMENT! I'd like to thank everyone who's ever subscribed, reviewed, or just plain read the thing, it's been quite the adventure**

**So anywayzz, I'm thinking of a sequel, if anyone's interested. Even if no one's interested, I'm writing it anyway, so stay tuned**


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